Netflix has finally released its web series “Bad Boy Billionaires“. All episodes except the one involving B Ramalinga Raju, the founder of Satyam Computer Services have been released.
The release was made possible after a lower court in Bihar, on Saturday, vacated its own stay order on the release of ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’, a web series by video streaming platform Netflix that was slated for release at 12 noon on September 2.
A sub-Judge of the Araria Court on Saturday had vacated the ex-parte interim stay, which was sought by Sahara India on August 28, ET has learnt. The court had earlier restrained Netflix from using the name of Sahara Chairman Subrata Roy in the upcoming series.
Advocate Amit Shrivastava sought vacation of the stay last month on behalf of Netflix. When contacted, Shrivastava confirmed that the lower court had vacated the stay.
The detailed order came after the court heard arguments for a week. A copy of the order has yet to be made available publicly.
As first reported by ET on September 18, the Patna High Court had refused to vacate the stay and directed Netflix to approach the lower court.
On September 2, the Supreme Court had also refused to vacate the stay granted by the Bihar court.
Another court in Hyderabad had also restrained the US-based OTT giant from releasing the series, on a separate plea filed by B Ramalinga Raju, the founder of Satyam Computer Services, who was convicted in a case of fraud. Since the stay by the Hyderabad Court is yet to be vacated, the series released will not feature the episode involving Raju.
Netflix had moved the Supreme Court through two petitions but had failed to get the stay vacated.
Earlier in August, the sub Judge of the Araria Court ruled that it was granting the stay in favour of Roy on balance of convenience and irreparable loss to defendants, including their employees, directors, officers, associates or any person or entity acting on their behalf or under their authority restraining from releasing, “transmitting, distributing, exhibiting, performing or communicating to the public by any means or technology by audio or video performance of the impugned trailer of Bad Boy Billionaires using the name of Subrata Roy till the appearance of the defendant and filing show cause.”
Roy alleged that a London-based director had met him in Lucknow in 2019, claiming that a web feature will be made on his life. He further alleged that he was told that the web feature would be titled “Billionaires.”
Roy’s counsel had contended that ‘Bad Boy Billionaires’ was an attempt to tarnish his client’s image by putting Roy in a series that also has fugitive economic offender Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Harshad Mehta.
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