Manikarnika: EOW closes inquiry against Kangana Ranaut film's copyright issues; dismisses Ketan Mehta's claims

In May 2017, Ketan Mehta had sent Kangana Ranaut and the producers of upcoming period drama Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi a legal notice for hijacking Rani of Jhansi: The Warrior Queen, his most ambitious film project. Following this, in June 2017 he had approached Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to book Ranaut for breach of trust and cheating. Now, Mid-Day reports that EOW has closed the case.[caption id="attachment_5345811" align="alignnone" width="825"]

Kangana Ranaut in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi[/caption]The publication reports that in the inquiry conducted by EOW's general cheating department had collected all material related to the film from Mehta as well as the producers of Manikarnika. The unit also recorded statements from various people involved.The inquiry concluded that the story of Queen of Jhansi is known to all and the allegations could only be proved if dialogues, scenes and sets in Manikarnika were the same as Mehta's script, which they were not. The approval to close the case was approved by senior EOW officials a few weeks ago.Manikarnika has been making headlines owing to the Sonu Sood-Kangana Ranaut altercation following the former's exit from the period film and his subsequent replacement. Swati Semwal also quit the film as she was unsure if her role would have been substantial enough following Sonu Sood's exit from the movie.