Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani: 'Prasoon Joshi should resign from CBFC for the welfare of the industry'

Kollywood actor and producer Vishal grabbed headlines when he shared a video on his Instagram handle and made some shocking claims about the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) ahead of the release of the Hindi version of his film, Mark Antony. He accused the board of corruption and claimed paying Rs 6.5 lakh to receive a certificate for the Hindi release. Post the explosive charges made by the actor, former censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani has asked the current chief Prasoon Joshi to resign. While talking to Aaj Tak, he said, “I am of the opinion that Prasoon Joshi should resign for the welfare of the industry. If he is not able to give time, then he has no right to continue sitting on that chair. He does not even sit in the Chairman’s office and has given all the power to the CO.” He added, “The work of clearance is done by the Chairman, but there the CO is doing it. The job of the CO is simply to look after the administration. What is happening in the Censor Board office is very shameful.” Statement by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), has issued an official statement regarding the same and mentioned in the note that ‘strictest action will be taken against anyone found involved’. The inquiry will take place today. The statement can be read, “The issue of corruption in CBFC brought forth by actor @VishalKOfficial is extremely unfortunate. The Government has zero tolerance for corruption and strictest action will be taken against anyone found involved. A senior officer from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been deputed to Mumbai to conduct an inquiry today itself (sic).” Further adding, “We request everyone to cooperate with the Ministry, by providing information about any other instance of harassment by CBFC at jsfilms.inb@nic.in @producers_guild @motionpictures (sic).” While the original Tamil version of _Mark Antony_ was released on 15 September, the Hindi version arrived on 28 September. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.