Actor Rajinikanth had filed a caveat application in the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai, anticipating the filing of a writ appeal in a case preferred by an aspiring filmmaker alleging theft of his script for making the actor’s much awaited movie Lingaa. The caveat was filed to prevent passing of any kind of interim order without hearing his stand.

When the appeal came up for hearing before Justices V. Dhanapalan and V.M. Velumani on Monday, the actor’s counsel Sanjay Ramaswami took notice on behalf the actor and agreed to argue the case on Wednesday since the movie was slated to be released on Friday and the appellant, K.R. Ravi Rathinam, had urged the court to stay its release.

The appeal was filed against the refusal of a single judge of the High Court to order a probe into the alleged theft. The judge had dismissed the appellant’s writ petition on December 3 on the ground that the dispute between the parties was private in nature and it could be resolved only through civil or criminal proceedings and not by invoking the writ jurisdiction.

Assailing the decision before the Division Bench, the appellant’s counsel W. Peter Ramesh Kumar contended that the single judge had overlooked Supreme Court’s latest decision in Lalita Kumari’s case which categorically holds that the police were bound to register a First Information Report within seven days of lodging a complaint making out a cognisable offence.

On the other hand, Mr. Ramaswami wondered how the petitioner could allege theft of script even without having watched the movie. Taking exception to the contents of the petitioner’s affidavit, he said: "He has made a mockery of my (Rajinikanth) community and called me a Kannadiga. Is it all necessary for the purpose of filing this case?" he asked.

The counsel also pointed out that two other individuals had filed similar cases, one in the Principal Seat of the Madras High Court in Chennai and another in the city civil court there, making allegations of theft of their scripts. "Nobody can claim right over a historical concept of building a dam. The concept can be same and ideas can be same but how one treats it makes the real difference," he added.