A day after the Hyderabad police found an empty vodka bottle in the rear seat of the car which was being driven by Tollywood actor Ravi Teja’s brother, Bharath Raju, CCTV footage showed that the latter may have consumed alcohol.
Bharath was driving at a high speed on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in Shamshabad Mandal, when his car rammed into the back of a stationary lorry, leading to his death.
The Deccan Chronicle reported that CCTV footage showed Bharath entering Novotel hotel in Shamshabad on Sunday afternoon at around 3pm with one more friend, and went to the first floor to attend a party, organised by a friend.
The DC report adds that Bharath came down at 4.30pm, and took a swim in the pool, before continuing to party, and finally leaving the hotel at 9.30pm.
He had met with his accident at around 10pm.
However, the police said that they were still waiting for the viscera report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to confirm their claims.
Meanwhile, Ravi Teja, who had skipped his brother's funeral, resumed shooting for his upcoming film, Raja The Great, on Monday.
"One must understand that profession (sic) is different from emotion. The professional that Ravi Teja is, he chose to report on the sets for the shoot keeping all his grief aside...It is not easy being an actor. People talk about the remuneration an actor gets, but an actor delivers what he has to, suppressing all emotions," actor Uttej, a close friend of Ravi Teja, told the Times of India.
Police suspect that Bharath Raju was speeding, as the speedometer needle of the actor’s Skoda vehicle reportedly froze at 150 kmph.
According to reports, Bharath was also driving on the extreme left in the ORR, which is only meant for vehicles that have broken down, or have to stop, due to an emergency.
“Despite creating much awareness about the lane system and speed limit on ORR, Bharath jumped lanes and went into a lane which was not meant for cars. This was one of the main reasons for the fatal accident, and over-speeding of course,” ACP Shamshabad Karolla Prasad had told Deccan Chronicle earlier.