Actor Ranveer Singh booked for insulting ‘Chavundi Daiva’

Bengaluru police registered an FIR against actor Ranveer Singh for alleged insult to religious sentiments over a stage performance at IFFI Goa, following a court-referred complaint claiming he mocked the Bhoota Kola tradition and Chavundi Daiva, with videos sparking outrage 

Bengaluru: The High Grounds police have registered a case against Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh following a complaint alleging “insult to religious sentiments” during a public event, police said on Thursday.

The FIR was registered on Wednesday based on a complaint lodged by Prashanth Methal (46), a Bengaluru-based lawyer, after an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACJM) court referred the private complaint for investigation.

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The accused has been booked under Sections 196, 299 and 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

According to the complaint, the incident pertains to the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa on November 28, 2025.

The complainant stated that Ranveer Singh, while present on stage and in the presence of the lead actor of ‘Kantara: Chapter-1’, allegedly performed acts that mocked and insulted the sacred Bhoota Kola tradition practiced in Coastal Karnataka.

The complainant said he is a devotee of ‘Chavundi Daiva’, a revered guardian spirit worshipped in Bhoota Kola rituals, and that the deity is also his family deity, which he has worshipped since childhood.

He alleged that the actor imitated the divine expressions of Panjurli/Guliga Daiva in a “crude, comical and derogatory manner” and verbally referred to the sacred Chavundi Daiva as a “female ghost.” Despite an alleged request not to perform the Daiva act, the accused enacted an emotional Chavundi Daiva scene from ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’ on stage, the lawyer said.

“Chavundi Daiva is not a female ghost but a powerful and fierce guardian spirit symbolising justice, protection, and divine feminine energy, and holds deep religious and cultural significance in the coastal region,” Methal said in his complaint.

Referring to the deity as a ghost was described in the complaint as “blasphemous and a serious insult to Hindu religious beliefs and practices”. The complainant alleged that the accused, being a widely followed public figure, performed the act on an international platform with knowledge that it would hurt the religious sentiments of devotees.

The complaint further stated that a video of the alleged performance went viral on social media, causing grave mental agony, anger and resentment among devotees.

The complainant said he became aware of the incident after viewing the video on the social media.

“The act of the accused was deliberate, intentional and malicious, intended to outrage religious feelings,” the complainant alleged.