The Madras High Court provided significant relief to renowned Tamil film director S Shankar on Tuesday by staying an Enforcement Directorate (ED) order that provisionally attached three of his properties, valued at over ₹10 crore. The attachment was originally ordered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) due to a copyright dispute surrounding Shankar’s 2010 blockbuster film, “Enthiran,” starring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai.
The bench, comprising Justice MS Ramesh and Justice N Senthilkumar, responded to Shankar’s plea challenging the ED’s February 17 order. The court has directed the ED to file a counter-response to Shankar’s plea and has adjourned the case to April 21 for further hearing.
The ED’s action stemmed from a complaint by writer Aarur Tamilnadan, who alleged in Chennai’s Egmore magistrate court that “Enthiran” was plagiarized from his story titled “Jugiba.” Since offences under the Copyright Act are considered scheduled offences under the PMLA, the ED proceeded with the property attachment.
During the proceedings, the High Court raised questions about the ED’s haste in attaching the properties without waiting for the judicial outcome of the ongoing copyright dispute. “Can the ED register cases based on an individual’s complaint that a crime has been committed? Why didn’t the ED wait for the outcome of the complaint before attaching the property?” the court inquired.
This judicial query came against the backdrop of a June 2023 ruling by a single judge bench of the High Court, which dismissed Tamilnadan’s plea against Shankar. The court had found no substantial evidence of copyright infringement, noting that copyright could not be claimed merely over an idea or a concept. Furthermore, the court highlighted that since a criminal complaint related to the matter had been stayed for three years, the provisional attachment of the properties by the ED was deemed premature and unnecessary.
