BENGALURU: Police have filed a chargesheet against Maasthigudi film crew members and the pilot of the chopper from which two stuntmen had jumped and drowned into Thippagondanahalli reservoir during a shoot last year.
Stuntmen Anil Kumar and Raghav Uday were allegedly forced to jump into the reservoir from a height of about 30 feet, during the filming of the climax of the movie Maasthigudi on November 7, 2016. The duo was not wearing safety gear when they took the plunge from the chopper.
A senior police officer said the 400-page chargesheet was filed by Tavarekere police before Magadi JMFC Court after five months of investigation. It contains the statements of 78 witnesses including a cameraman, actor Duniya Vijay and officials of BWSSB and the Lake Development Authority.
Film producer Sundar P Gowda and director Nagashekhar are the accused number 1 and 2 in the case. Assistant director Siddu, stunt master Ravi Verma and unit manager S Bharath have been named as accused number 3, 4 and 5 respectively.
The police found negligence on the part of pilot Prakash Biradar who is the accused number 6. “The film team had brought in a helicopter violating the norms mentioned in the permission letter. In fact, Anil and Uday were forced to jump into the reservoir even though they had expressed fear about it and said they did not know swimming.” he said.
The accused are charged under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) read with Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC.