MUMBAI: Netflix has released three episodes of its series about four Indian tycoons facing fraud allegations after a state court lifted an injunction.
The ‘Bad Boy Billionaires: India’ documentary series about liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, Subrata Roy of the Sahara group, IT executive Ramalinga Raju and jeweler Nirav Modi had been set for release last month.
Netflix suspended the release after an order by the district court in the eastern Bihar state where the Sahara group argued it would damage Roy’s reputation. Sahara said in a statement that the documentary was “misleading”, adding that it was “depicted through some disgruntled people who hold personal grudges against Sahara”.
Roy is currently on bail, having been ordered by a court to repay billions of dollars to investors in a scheme that was found to be illegal. Roy denied wrongdoing in the case and his lawyer has said he has already repaid investors.
The ongoing dispute is among the most high-profile ones Netflix has faced in India where some of its shows have faced court challenges and police complaints about obscenity or hurting religious sentiments.
The court lifted this injunction on Saturday, Amit Shrivastava, a lawyer for Netflix said without giving further details. Netflix argued that halting the show’s release “freezes free speech” and hurt it financially.
Netflix has made three of the four episodes in the series available on its app for viewers in India. The episode focusing on Raju was unavailable.
Raju, who admitted to a $1 billion accounting fraud more than a decade ago, has obtained a separate injunction from a court in south India. The case was heard on Monday and the hearing will resume on 9th October.
The other two businessmen, Modi and Mallya, are currently in Britain and face extradition proceedings and have denied wrongdoing.
