Three persons have been arrested in connection with the death of a woman during a stampede at the Sandhya 70 mm theatre in Hyderabad’s Chikkadpally on December 4, during the premiere of Alllu Arjun starrer, ‘Pushpa 2’. The arrested persons are M Sandeep, a partner of the theatre, M Nagaraju, the manager, and Sri Gandhakam Vijay Chander, the lower balcony in-charge.
The incident occurred around 9.30 pm. A large crowd gathered at the theatre, anticipating the arrival of the film's lead actor Allu Arjun and music director Devi Sri Prasad. While the theatre management had prior knowledge of the actors' visit, they failed to implement adequate security measures or provide separate entry and exit points for the actors. The theatre management did not inform the crowd that the actors would be attending the premiere, the police said in a press release.
When actor Allu Arjun arrived with his personal security team, the situation escalated as the crowd surged towards the entrance. The resulting stampede led to Revathi (35) and her 13-year-old son Sreethej feeling suffocated. Police personnel intervened, pulling them out of the crowd and performing CPR on Sreethej. The doctor at Durgabai Deshmukh Hospital informed that Revathi was dead. Sreethej remains under treatment in a specialized hospital.
A case was registered at the Chikkadpally police station under sections 105 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 118(1) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) r/w 3(5) (when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons is liable for that act in the same manner as if it were done by him alone) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Following investigations led by DCP Akshansh Yadav, ACP L Ramesh Kumar, and Inspector B Raju Naik, the accused were arrested on December 8, and remanded to judicial custody.