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Court wants to know third
party claims to 'Chori Chori...'

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

The special court hearing film financier Bharat Shah's plea for the release of negatives of the Hindi film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke on Wednesday asked for notices to be sent to 13 distributors and the music company that holds rights for the movie's music, asking them to present themselves in court before January 30 and acknowledge if they have any third party claims to the movie.

Shah's company Mega Bollywood will send out the notices by courier.

Shah's counsel Vibhav Krishnan told the media after the hearing that the court's intention was to ascertain how genuine was Mega Bollywood's right to the negatives, seized on December 22 following producer Nazeem Rizvi's arrest.

Krishnan told reporters that Mega Bollywood was an entity distinct from Shah and payments were by cheque, through the company, and not by Shah in his individual capacity.

That was also the line of argument another Shah counsel, Shiraz Rahimtullah, took before the special court on Wednesday. Arguing that all payments were by cheque, he said the company had nothing to do with Shah's arrest, since no director can claim ownership of the company.

Public prosecutor Rohini Salian said that when Shah filed his application for releasing the film, he was a free man, so Shah's arrest had nothing to do with the seizure of the negatives.

The Complete Coverage: The Bharat Shah Case

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