Mumbai Police Issues Notice to Kamra Over Remarks on Dy CM Shinde

(March 25,2025) - Mumbai Police served a notice to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra on Tuesday to report to the police station and come for questioning in connection with a case filed against him for outraging the modesty of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Sources informed officials that Kamra would be required to report to the Khar police station at 11 am for questioning.

As per police sources, an initial notice has been served to Kamra, though further details of the probe remain undisclosed. The controversy erupted after Kamra, during his stand-up show at the Habitat Comedy Club in Mumbai’s Khar area, performed a parody of a popular Bollywood song from Dil To Pagal Hai, mocking Shinde and referring to him as a "gaddar" (traitor). He also satirised recent political developments in Maharashtra, including the splits within the Shiv Sena and NCP.

The day after the incident, Shinde commented that while freedom of expression is a right, it is not limitless. He likened Kamra's remark to a defamation assignment and argued that satire, too, should have boundaries.

Kamra's move was immediately put up on the internet as a video clip, and Shiv Sena also responded to it in a scorching way. Shiv Sena workers looted the Habitat Comedy Club to which Kamra had gone to perform and trashed the Hotel Unicontinental on Sunday evening on which the club is situated. Police later lodged a case against Kamra on the complaint of Shiv Sena MLA Murji Patel for insulting the deputy chief minister.

40 Shiv Sena staff members were arrested on Monday by the Mumbai Police for their involvement in the vandalism. Dozens of individuals, including a Shiv Sena member Rahul Kanal, were arrested for attacking the comedy club but released on bail hours later by an area court.