Allu Arjun has been arrested in the Sandhya theatre stampede case in which one woman died during a premiere show of his film Pushpa 2: The Rule. Visuals showed police taking him into custody from his residence in Hyderabad, in the presence of his father Allu Aravind and his wife Allu Sneha Reddy.
The stampede, which took place on Wednesday, December 4, was triggered by Allu Arjun's sudden visit to the theatre. The deceased woman was identified as Revathi, a resident of Dilshuknagar.
A case was booked against actor Allu Arjun, his security team and the management of Sandhya 70 mm theatre in Hyderabad, under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 108 (voluntarily causing hurt) read with Section 3 clause 5 (acts done by several in furtherance of common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
While it’s a common practice for Telugu movie stars to visit certain theatres at RTC X roads for their movie premieres, the Chikkadpally police alleged that neither the theatre management nor the actor’s team had informed authorities about his visit on December 4, which led to the tragedy.
A day after the incident, Allu Arjun released a video offering condolences to Revathi’s family, and announced Rs 25 lakh as compensation. While he also urged fans to be careful and called the incident deeply saddening, the actor was criticised for failing to take accountability or apologising for the stampede.
The police have already arrested three persons in connection with the incident -- M Sandeep, a partner of Sandhya theatre, M Nagaraju, the theatre's manager, and Sri Gandhakam Vijay Chander, the lower balcony in-charge.
Allu Arjun had filed a petition in the Telangana High Court on December 11, seeking to quash the FIR against him.
Around 9.30 pm on December 4, Allu Arjun visited Sandhya Theatre with his personal security. “His personal security team started pushing the public which further aggravated the situation as there was already huge gathering at the theatre. Taking advantage of this situation, along with the actor and his security team, a large number of people entered inside the lower balcony area,” Hyderabad Central Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Akshansh Yadav had stated earlier on December 5.