Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday demanded special protection for stand-up comic Kunal Kamra after three more cases were filed against him at Khar police station for his controversial remarks about Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Raut said that just like BJP MP Kangana Ranaut was given protection after her “rift” with the Shiv Sena, Kamra too must be provided the same privilege.

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“I also demand that the Maharashtra government must provide special protection to Kunal Kamra. Kangana Ranaut was also provided special force for her security when she had a rift with us,” Raut said.

Meanwhile, three more FIRs have been filed against Kamra. One of the complaints against Kunal Kamra has been filed by the Mayor of Jalgaon city, while the other two complaints were filed by a hotelier and a businessman from Nashik, according to the Mumbai police.

The Mumbai police has asked Kamra to appear on March 31 at Khar police station for further questioning in the case. However, Kamra has failed to appear before the police.

However, the Madras High Court granted interim anticipatory bail to stand-up comic Kunal Kamra on Friday in a case relating to jokes supposedly aimed at Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde.

In his petition seeking transit anticipatory bail filed on Friday, Kamra submitted that he moved to Tamil Nadu from Mumbai in 2021 and had been “ordinarily a resident of this state (Tamil Nadu) since then” and that he feared arrest and physical torture by the Mumbai police and a threat to his life from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Listing out the threats he had received, Kamra told the Madras High Court that feared that Shiv Sainiks might harm him or his loved ones. Kamra also mentioned that he feared the Mumbai police might arrest him and subject him to physical torture if he had to wait until the Bombay High Court grants him anticipatory bail.

As a matter of fact, speaking to media persons in Pune on Thursday, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Shambhuraj Desai had demanded the arrest and torture of Kunal Kamra by “putting him in a tyre and giving him prasad”.

“We have been asked by Shinde to observe restraint, that is why we are quiet. As Shiv Sena workers, we know how to drag him out from wherever he is hiding, but as ministers we have some restrictions. We want to tell the police, do not test our patience and nab him from wherever he is, put him in a tyre and give him ‘prasad’,” the Sena leader added.

‘Prasad’ is a Marathi word which means an offering made to God, but it is also used as a euphemism for physical beatings.