Actor Prakash Raj sends legal notice to BJP MP, calls him 'serial offender'

Actor Prakash Raj today sent a legal notice to Pratap Simha, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Karnataka, for allegedly disturbing his personal life.

"I have sent a legal notice to Pratap Simha as a citizen of this country for the way he has trolled me, which has disturbed my personal life," Raj told reporters. "I am asking him to answer legally and if he doesn't, I will be taking legal action."

Simha, who represents Mysuru in the Lok Sabha, had tweeted on 2 October: "Being sad due to son's death, having left your wife and ran behind a dancer, Mr Raj, do you have any right to say anything to [Uttar Pradesh chief minister] Yogi [Adityanath], [prime minister Narendra] Modi."

The tweet, along with a link to an article by a Kannada website with the same line as its headline, came after the actor blamed prime minister Modi for following those people on social media who were celebrating the murder of senior Bangalore journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead on 5 September.

Raj had also criticized the UP chief minister for his statements and said he was a "better actor than him [Raj]".

Reacting to the legal notice, Simha told a Kannada news channel that he had only retweeted the article. "Even Twitter mentions that retweets don't necessarily mean endorsements. I had only retweeted an article," Simha said.

Raj said the legal notice had nothing to do with the political party that Simha represents and it was only a fight against an individual.

"Let the court decide if he should remain in politics," the 52-year-old actor said. "Citizens will not stop asking questions." He also described Simha as a "serial offender".

Raj lost his five-year-old son a few years ago.