Amazon Prime Video's 'Tandav', starring Saif Ali Khan and Dimple Kapadia, released Friday
The cast and crew of Amazon Prime Video's 'Tandav' - who Tuesday night apologised and said they would edit scenes after two police complaints (and a vicious attack on social media) alleged an "insult to Hindu gods" - now face a third, and potentially fourth, case - this time in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
Police in Jabalpur district filed a case against the web series' director Ali Abbas Zafar, writer Gaurav Solanki and others after a complaint by the Hindu Seva Parishad - a right-wing group.
Charges include promoting enmity between different groups on religious ground and publishing statements with intent to incite any community or class, Amit Kumar, the Additional SP, said.
"We've also demanded stringent action against the makers of the web series... banning it and ensuring that no such web series, which hurts Hindu religious sentiments, is allowed to be released in the future," Dhiraj Gyanchandani, the leader of the Hindu Seva Parishad, said.
The police have been instructed to complete investigations as early as possible.
A police complaint has also been filed by the BJP's Scheduled Caste Cell in Indore, demanding a criminal case against the series' makers for scenes and dialogues that hurt Dalit and Hindu feelings.
Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan, in whose state a FIR was filed against Netflix - alleging that an adaptation of Vikram Seth's 'A Suitable Boy' had hurt religious sentiments - made his views clear.
"Nobody has the right to disrespect our gods and goddesses... in my opinion we need to keep a strict eye on OTT platforms as they are showing vulgar content," he said this week.
Earlier the 'Tandav' cast and crew followed up Monday's "unconditional apology" with a statement saying they would "implement changes to the web series to address the concerns raised".
"We have outmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country. We did not intend to hurt or offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead," a statement said.
This was after they said they "... take cognizance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologize if it has unintentionally hurt anybody's sentiments".
Two apologies in 48 hours seem to have done little to calm those upset by the alleged insults.
The other police cases filed so far are in Lucknow and Mumbai.
The Lucknow complaint, filed by a policeman, alleges that in the first episode "people dressed up in a very bad manner to represent Hindu gods and goddesses... that hurts religious sentiments".
The Mumbai complaint, by BJP MLA Ram Kadam, also alleges that insults to religious sentiments happen "every time", and he also calls for content on OTTs to be subject to censors.