Actress Rakhi Sawant has been called by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell after she featured on Samay Raina’s recently deleted YouTube reality show, India’s Got Latent. Sawant, who was one of the panellists in the show’s 12th episode featuring YouTuber Aashish Solanki, comedian Maheep Singh, rapper Yashraj, and owner of The Habitat Balraj Singh Ghai, is to make her statement before the Cyber Cell on February 27.
YouTubers Ashish Chanchlani and Ranveer Allahabadia, who are also involved in the controversy, will record their statements with the Maharashtra Cyber Cell on February 24. Chanchlani has approached the Supreme Court to quash or transfer a Guwahati FIR accusing him of promoting obscenity to Mumbai. The Supreme Court has issued a notice to both Maharashtra and Assam, seeking their response, and has decided to tag Chanchlani’s plea with a similar plea from Allahabadia.
India’s Got Latent Controversy
The controversy arose from a bit in India’s Got Latent, where Allahabadia queried a participant, “Would you rather watch your parents have sex every day for the rest of your life or join them once and stop it forever?” The query, which had been cleared by the panel, was met with laughter from viewers and entertained by the participant but caused outrage when the episode went on air. Allahabadia responded by issuing an apology, having admitted a “lapse of judgment” and calling for the makers of the show to cut out the offending segment.
Public Backlash and Aftermath
Despite the segment being removed, the backlash persisted and several complaints and FIRs were made against Raina and others. The Indian government asked YouTube to remove the whole episode, and Raina removed all episodes of the show from his channel. He wrote on social media, “Everything that is happening has been too much for me to handle. I have removed all India’s Got Latent videos from my channel. My sole aim was to entertain and make others laugh. I will cooperate fully with all agencies to ensure their investigations are completed impartially. Thank you.”
