Actress filed defamatory against famous TV channel for morphed videos of her

Telugu comedy actor Kalyani Padala, popularly known as ‘Karate’ Kalyani, approached the Central Crime Station on Thursday and lodged a complaint against the Shiva Shakthi Sai TV channel.

The actor alleged that the devotional channel, owned by self-styled spiritual guru Ramanananda Maharshi, ran a defamatory programme, that amounted to mental harassment. The actor said that she saw the video online, before approaching the cyber police.

“While browsing the Internet, I came across a YouTube link — Hindutvam Musugulo Naya Dandha, Karate Kalyani Part-1, Shiva Shakthi Sai TV. I watched the programme. The channel has made very objectionable comments on my personal and professional life. I have also seen the part-2 of the programme run by the TV channel owned by Ramanananda Maharshi. It has shown my personal life in the most objectionable manner,” the complainant was quoted as saying.

She also accused the channel of collecting her visuals from various sources and editing it to malign her character, even though she had never given them a single interview.

The actor said that Ramanananda bore a grudge on her as she had protested his ‘objectionable’ comments on Ramayanam, Lord Rama, and Lord Hanuman, and accused the guru of using his channel to defame her.

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The investigation agency was acting on a complaint by the Movie Artists Association (MAA), who said that several websites were publishing obscene and defamatory photographs of film personalities.

While authorities and the complainants refused to reveal the exact content of the websites, they claimed that it was obscene and vulgar. They also stated that morphed images of actresses were being uploaded online and widely circulated, in a bid to defame them.

Earlier last year, veteran artist and TDP MP Murali Mohan had lashed out against YouTube channels and websites that were defaming film celebrities, while speaking at the Silver Jubilee celebrations of MAA.

Stating that such channels used extremely misleading titles and thumbnails, he accused them of doing it just for popularity. He also asked the state government to investigate the issue and book such channels.