Prakash Raj booked for 'mocking' Chandrayaan-3

Actor Prakash Raj has been booked in a police station of Karnataka's Bagalkot district over a social media post, in which he allegedly mocked India's ambitious third lunar mission-- Chandrayaan-3, police said on Tuesday.

"A complaint has been filed against actor Prakash Raj for his post on the Chandrayaan-3 mission," police said.

"Hindu organisations leaders filed a complaint against the actor in Banahatti police station of Bagalkote district and have demanded action," they added.

On Sunday, Raj shared a cartoon showing a man in a shirt and sarong pouring tea. He captioned the cartoon in Kannada, writing, "Latest news: First view just arrived from the Chandrayaan #VikramLander #justasking".

While the actor did not specify the man in the cartoon, many social media users slammed the actor for making fun of former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Sivan.

Among them was Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.

"I condemn Prakash Raj for this shameful tweet. Success of ISRO is success of India," he wrote.

Chandrayaan-3, launched on July 14, is ready to touch down on the Moon's south pole on August 23.

It will be the first to land on the lunar south pole.

On Sunday, India's space agency specified it would do so at 6.04 pm.

In a tweet on Monday, the actor said his earlier tweet was referring to an old joke from the era of Neil Armstrong, the American astronaut and the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969.

"Hate sees only Hate... i was referring to a joke of #Armstrong times.. celebrating our Kerala Chaiwala.. which Chaiwala did the TROLLS see?? .. if you don't get a joke then the joke is on you.. Grow up #justasking(sic)," Raj tweeted.

The actor's tweet left many users angry on social media, with one of the users even asking Raj, known to be vocal against the government, to keep political hate away from ISRO's achievements.

Raj, who has made his mark in films such as Kanchivaram, Singham and Wanted, contested as an independent candidate for Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency during the 2019 general elections and lost.

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface.