Kunal Kamra does not regret his remarks, venue demolished

Amid mounting political outrage over stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's recent remarks targeting Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers on Monday arrived at Mumbai's Habitat Studio and began demolishing portions of the venue, citing rule violations.

Meanwhile, the Comedian - at the center of a row over his "gaddar", or "traitor", comments about Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde - does not regret his remarks, Police sources said Kamra - who spoke to the cops from Tamil Nadu - denied rumours he had been paid by the opposition to target Shinde. He reportedly gave the police permission to check his finances - to confirm no payment was received - if needed.

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 Kamra came shortly after the Mumbai studio that hosted Kamra's show was demolished by the city's civic body, citing an unspecified violation. The exact nature of these alleged violations remains unclear, with no official details provided by BMC authorities. However, several civic body officials were seen entering the venue, which was located in the Unicontinental Hotel in the Khar area, with hammers.

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 Kamra's comment, arguing they could not be held accountable for comments by performers.

The controversy - far from the first with 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 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. 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 Kamra, including one based on a complaint by Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik.