Mumbai:

Comedian Kunal Kamra has told Mumbai Police he does not regret his comment about Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, sources told NDTV Monday afternoon.

Police sources also said Mr Kamra – who spoke to the cops from Tamil Nadu – denied rumours he had been paid by the opposition to target Mr Shinde. He reportedly gave the police permission to check his finances – to confirm no payment was received – if needed.

Mr Kamra also said he would only apologise – an apology has been demanded by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who this morning told the Assembly the freedom of expression argument could not extend to “disrespecting the Deputy Chief Minister” – if told to by the courts.

News of the contact with Mr Kamra came shortly after the Mumbai studio that hosted Mr Kamra’s show was demolished by the city’s civic body, citing an unspecified violation.

The owners of the studio – Habitat Studio, which also hosted the episode of the ‘India’s Got Latent’ show featuring influencer Ranveer Allahabadia – earlier distanced themselves from Mr Kamra’s comment, arguing they could not be held accountable for comments by performers.

The controversy – far from the first with Mr Kamra in the spotlight – broke after his parody of ‘Bholi Si Surat’, a popular Bollywood song. In the parody he used the term ‘gaddar’, or ‘traitor’, to refer to Mr Shinde, a former (undivided) Shiv Sena leader whose rebellion against party boss Uddhav Thackeray in 2022 caused a split and brought down the latter’s government.

Mr Shinde’s Sena faction then joined hands with the BJP to form the government.

Outrage by the BJP-led state government has seen multiple police cases filed against Mr Kamra, including one based on a complaint by Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik.