Sahara Group terms Netflix's Bad Boy Billionaires: India ill-motivated, incorrect and misleading

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Sahara Group on October 5 hit back at Netflix after it released controversial series Bad Boy Billionaires: India, calling the series an "ill-motivated, incorrect, misleading documentary depicted through some disgruntled people who hold personal grudges" against the company.

The OTT platform released three episodes of the docuseries based on four Indian tycoons (including Sahara's Subrata Roy) facing allegations of fraud on October 5.

"While expressing opinion with regard to interviews of a few investors, the documentary has conspicuously spelt half truth by concealing the fact that the Supreme Court had, vide its judgment dated 31.08.2012, clearly directed SEBI to make refund to the investors and though the SEBI is holding about Rs 22,000 crore of Sahara, it has only repaid about Rs 107 crore to the investors in last 8 years, and thus the allegations of non-payment to investors is only on account of blame to SEBI and cannot be fastened against Sahara," the group claimed in a statement.

The Group said, "The documentary is technically misguided, when it uses words like Chit Fund, against legally founded businesses of Saharas, commenced within regulatory/ legal framework."

Three episodes of the series based on the founder of defunct Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya, fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, are available to stream on the OTT platform.

Calling the series defamatory and maliciously made in the garb of journalistic freedom, the group said, "Netflix, being wholly owned subsidiary of foreign entities, in law, it has no protection of fundamental rights of free speech and expression. Sahara has already filed criminal cases against Netflix and their promoters, producers, directors and reporters etc."

"The law will take its own course against such mis-adventurous exercises of Netflix," it concluded in the statement.

The fourth episode of the series, based on former chairman and CEO of Satyam Computer Services B Ramalinga Raju, was not released as a Hyderabad civil court has restrained Netflix from releasing it.

A civil court in Patna had earlier restrained Netflix from releasing the documentary series using Roy's name in an order dated August 28. The California-based platform subsequently moved the Supreme Court to seek a stay on the order. However, the top court on September 2 refused to entertain the appeal by Netflix.

Days after the SC refused to entertain the appeal, the Patna High Court, too, dismissed the OTT platform’s plea challenging the injunction order.

The release was possible after a lower court in Bihar on October 3 vacated its own stay order, as per an Economic Times report.