Arrest warrant against actor Arya, director Bala in Avan Ivan controversy

An arrest warrant has been issued against actor Arya and director Bala in the Avan Ivan movie controversy that is now raging in Tamil cinema.

A district court in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, has issued an arrest warrant against Kollywood celebrities with respect to the Tamil movie Avan Ivan that released in 2011.

A complaint was filed by Shankar Aathmajan Ambai against Bala for allegedly portraying the character of Singampatti zamindar (feudal lord) in bad light. Following this, a case was registered. The allegation levelled was against Bala's depiction of Theerthapathi Raja, the Singampatti feudal lord and the Sorimuthu Iyyanaar temple that was reportedly found in bad taste.

Since then, the court is said to have issued numerous summons to Arya and Bala, but reports say that both did not attend any of the hearings. Thus, now the court has issued an arrest warrant against the celeb duo.

The movie Avan Ivan was produced by Kalpathi S Aghoram. In the initial charges, complainant Ambai had named producer Aghoram also as one of the accused person. But the court had cleared him of charges in the last hearing.

The court has fixed July 13 as the date for the next hearing with respect to this case.