Hyderabad: Tollywood actor Allu Arjun on Wednesday, December 11, filed a petition at the Telangana High Court seeking the quashing of the case registered against him over the death of a woman during the premiere of his latest film, Pushpa 2: The Rule, at Sandhya Theatre.
During the premiere, a stampede occurred at the premises of Sandhya Theatre, located at RTC X Roads in Hyderabad, which led to the death of Revathi, a 35-year-old woman, and critically injured her son. Revathi’s husband lodged a complaint with the police following the incident.
The Chikkadpally police registered a case on December 5 against Allu Arjun, his security team, and the Sandhya Theatre management under section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), section 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt), and section 3(5) (all parties being equally culpable). The theatre’s owner, general manager, and security manager were arrested on 8 December.
Allu Arjun, who had issued a condolences video and announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 25 lakh to the bereaved family on December 6, argued in his petition that he was unaware of the incident as he was inside the theatre at the time.
Sandhya theatre moves HC over stampede at Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 premiere
Meanwhile, the management of Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad has also approached the Telangana High Court seeking to quash the FIR filed by the Chikkadpally police.
The petitioners claimed they had proactively requested police bandobast from the ACP, the station house officer, and the traffic police to manage the large crowds expected during the event. However, despite these requests, only limited police personnel were deployed.
The counsel further argued that the sections invoked in the FIR, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder and voluntarily causing hurt, were not applicable, as the petitioners neither had the intent nor the knowledge that the event would result in death or injury.
