In a huge jolt to Kollywood star director Shankar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached his assets worth Rs 10.11 crores. The attachment was in connection with a plagiarism case filed in Egmore court on May 19, 2011, against Shankar by a Tamil writer named Aarur Tamilnadan, who alleged that Shankar had copied his story and made the 2010 sci-fi blockbuster ‘Enthiran’ (Robot in Telugu) starring Superstar Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai.
Since the copyright act is classified as a scheduled offense under PMLA, the ED acted against Shankar on charges of plagiarism and copyright violations under the anti-money laundering law. The ED issued a statement in which it mentioned that a provisional order was issued on February 17 under the PMLA attaching three immovable properties belonging to director Shankar. The ED also mentioned that this is possibly the first-ever attachment of assets in the country under the PMLA, on grounds of plagiarism or copyright violation during the making of a movie.
The complainant, Aarur Tamilnadan, alleged that the storyline of Shankar’s Enthiran was copied from his story titled ‘Jiguba.’. The ED found similarities between Jiguba and Enthiran and held Shankar liable for violations under the Copyright Act, 1957, and various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The ED fielder disclosed that Shankar had received a remuneration of Rs 11.50 crore for story development, screenplay, dialogues, and directing Enthiran.