Actress arrested for posing with cobra

Entertainment Desk: TV actor Shruti Ulfat and three others were arrested for posting pictures of endangered cobras on their social media.

The Nagarjuna - Ek Yoddha actor posted pictures with the cobra in October, reports DNA. According to another report on ABP Live, several animal rights activists filed complaints against the actor in the Thane Forest Department.

Arjun Bijlani of TV show Naagin also came out in her support and said that it was unfair to blame the actor for the incident.

“I don’t think the actor was aware that putting a picture up was going to land her in jail. The supplier should be put behind bars, not the actor. The entire team is accountable, why just the actor? Hopefully, this incident will create awareness around rules regarding the use of animals on shows,” he said to Mid-Day.

Forest officials demanded the videos from Ulfat, her co-actor Pearl Puri and two producers, Utkarsh Bali and Nitin Solanki. The accused claimed that the cobra was a CGI creation. Once these claims were dismissed, an arrest was made.

“We have arrested actress Shruti Ulfat along with 3 others for posing with a cobra and posting the images and videos online in October 2016. They were produced before the Borivali court and have been kept in one-day custody of the Thane range. A CD with the images and videos was sent to the forensic lab and it has been proved that a live snake was used for shooting purposes,” said Santosh Kank, Range Forest officer to Mid-Day.

Ulfat however dismissed the rumours of her arrest to Dainik Bhaskar. “Since I had posted a video with the cobra on my Instagram account, they (forest department officials) asked me to come to give the statement. The department officers want to stop this illegal trafficking and I being a responsible citizen will do everything to help them out. Also, my name has been portrayed on a larger scale because I am an actress. Otherwise, it wasn’t my fault at all,” she said.

Source: Agencies

risingbd/DHAKA/Feb 10, 2017/Amirul