HYDERABAD: Actor Allu Arjun, Accused No. 11 (A-11) in the Sandhya Theatre stampede case, was on Tuesday grilled for more than three hours by the police while a bail petition was filed on his behalf in the Nampally court here. Arjun faces charges of culpable homicide in the case that led to the death of M Revathi and left her 8-year-old son M Sri Tej hospitalised in a critical condition.
Meanwhile, advocates appearing for the actor filed a bail petition in the Nampally court which is expected to be heard in the next few days. The Nampally court has already granted bail to six persons in the case. It may be mentioned here that on December 13, the Telangana High Court granted interim bail to Arjun for four weeks.
Arjun, accompanied by his advocate Ashok Reddy, father Allu Arvind and father-in-law Kancharla Chandrasekhar Reddy, reached the Chikkadpally police station at 11 am. At the police station, a team of police officials, led by Central Zone DCP Akshansh Yadav, questioned him regarding the stampede at Sandhya Theatre on December 4, which left a family shattered.
According to sources, the police posed over 20 questions to Arjun regarding his visit to the theatre and the stampede. They disclosed that the actor was also asked about the police permission for a rally on the road.
Some of the questions reportedly posed to Arjun were: Did the theatre management inform him about the denial of police permission? If they did, did they inform him or his team? “Did you, or your team, inform the theatre management about your arrival? Why did you come in a rally? While you were on the way to the theatre, why did you open the sunroof of your car and wave to the crowd? Were you made aware when you were inside the theatre that a person died due to that rally? Did the police inform you on that day about the death of a woman?” were reportedly some of the questions the police asked Arjun.
The sources disclosed that during the questioning, the police showed some videos related to the stampede. They said that seeing the clips, Arjun became emotional.
Arjun also quizzed on bouncers
After showing the video clips, the police asked the actor whether the sequence of the events did not contradict the version that he narrated during a press meet on Saturday.
“Why did you hold the press meet? Do you stick by whatever you said in your press meet about the incident?” the police reportedly asked the actor. He was also asked whether the police misbehaved with him during his arrest on December 13. The police, according to sources, posed to Arjun several questions regarding his bouncers — how many were employed by him and who was handling them.
Meanwhile, one Antony, who provided bouncers for the actor, was reportedly arrested in this case. Meanwhile, the Nampally court has granted bail to six accused in the case — Sandeep (A3), M Nagaraju (A9), Gandhakam Vijay Chandu (A10), Josya Bhapla Santhosh Kumar (A12) (Arjun’s personal manager), Tatipamula Vinayu Kumar (A16) and Mohd Parvez (A17).
As of now, the police have identified around 20 accused — theatre owners Agamati Pedda Ramireddy and Agamati Ram Reddy, their partners M Sandeep, M Sumit, Agamati Vinay Kumar, Ashutosh Reddy, M Renuka Devi and A Aruna Reddy, theatre manager M Nagaraju, in-charge of lower balcony Vijay Chander, along with Arjun’s manager Santosh, Arjun’s manager Sarath Bunny, Arjun’s security guards Ramesh and Raju, Allu Arjun Fans Association in-charge at RTC X Roads Vinay Kumar and his assistant Mohd Parvez, Mythri Movies producers and Talla Kiran Kumar, as well as the actor himself.
