Mumbai, June 7 (IANS) Filmmaker Manish Gupta was booked on the charges of stabbing and assaulting his former driver over a salary dispute in Mumbai, an official said on Saturday.

Gupta, known for directing films like ‘420 IPC’, was questioned soon after a complaint was filed by driver Rajibul Islam Lashkar, 32, at Versova Police Station.

According to the complaint, the stabbing incident took place at Gupta’s office in Sagar Sanjog building on Thursday night around 8.30 p.m.

The filmmaker’s advocate Dinesh Tiwari told IANS, “Based on the material collected by my client, we will prove to the police that the entire case has been fabricated. According to us, no stabbing took place at the time…”

Tiwari claimed that the false complaint had been filed against Gupta with the intention of extortion.

“The story about stabbing has been cooked up as an afterthought,” he said.

“We will use physical and circumstantial evidence in the matter to prove that Gupta was not present at the spot where the alleged incident took place,” he said.

The police said Lashkar had been working with Gupta for the past three years on a monthly salary of Rs 23,000.

Lashkar, in his complaint, alleged that the filmmaker attacked him with a kitchen knife during an argument over his salary dues, as Gupta had not paid his salary for May while sacking him on May 30.

The driver alleged that he received an injury on the right side of his abdomen in the incident.

The FIR registered against the filmmaker includes penal offences under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The sections deal with offences like voluntarily causing grievous hurt and intentionally insulting to provoke a breach of peace.

The driver said in his complaint that he returned to work on June 4 and demanded his dues on June 5, but Gupta used abusive language against him and attacked him with a knife.

Lashkar claimed that after escaping from Gutpa’s office, he took an autorickshaw to a hospital in Vile Parle.

The police have started scanning the video footage of areas close to Sagar Sanjog Building and other areas as part of the investigation into the complaint.

–IANS

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