Amid the massive row surrounding Netflix webseries ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’, sources in the government have told NDTV that it is taking the matter very seriously and added that “nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of people of this country”.

“Nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of people of this nation. India’s culture and civilisation should always be respected. You should think before portraying something in a wrong manner. The government is taking it very seriously,” a highly-place source said.

This comes hours after Netflix India’s content chief Monika Shergill was summoned by the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry amid the row surrounding the webseries on the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

Hundreds of social media users have accused the creators of the web series of deliberately changing names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar”. The series, created by Anubhav Sinha and Trishant Srivastava, is inspired by the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ Devi Sharan, the captain of the flight, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Varma and Pankaj Kapur in key roles.

The web series captured the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 on December 24, 1999. The plane, with 191 fliers onboard, took off from Nepal’s Kathmandu and was headed for Delhi. Soon after take-off, five hijackers, who were posing as passengers, took control of the plane. It later made several landings, at Amritsar, Lahore and Dubai, before being taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

The government, then led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was forced to release three dreaded terrorists — Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar — from Indian prisons to secure the release of the hostages. According to reports, Taliban authorities helped the hijackers and the released terrorists reach Pakistan.

A Union Home Ministry statement dated January 6, 2000, said the names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim and Shakir.

“To the passengers of the hijacked place these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another,” the Home Ministry statement says.

Multiple journalists who covered the week-long hijacking back in 1999 have put out social media posts amid the controversy, saying that passengers had told them that the hijackers used these names to address each other.

A former aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Bibhav Kumar, accused of assaulting Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal, was granted bail on Monday by the Supreme Court. The top court added that Mr Kumar not be reinstated as personal assistant or given any official assignment in the Chief Minister’s office. 

The court ordered that the accused shall not enter the Chief Minister’s residence till all witnesses are examined and refrain from commenting on the case.  

The bail of Mr Kumar, who was arrested on May 18, comes after 100 days.  

Earlier, Swati Maliwal hit out at the AAP, alleging that an attempt was made to portray her as a “villain” and Chief Minister’s close aide as a “hero” after she made assault allegations against him.

The 39-year-old Ms Maliwal alleged victim-shaming by the party, adding that her character was “maligned” and she was left “alone in the entire battle.”

The MP filed a complaint with the Delhi police against Bibhav Kumar on May 14, a day after the alleged assault took place at the Chief Minister’s residence. A day later, Bibhav Kumar lodged a counter-complaint with the police, accusing Ms Maliwal of gaining ‘unauthorised entry’ into the CM’s Civil Lines residence and ‘verbally abusing’ him.

The German Chancellor called the results of Sunday’s state elections “worrying” and “bitter”. 

​The German Chancellor called the results of Sunday’s state elections “worrying” and “bitter”.