Pushpa 2 stampede case: Allu Arjun gets regular bail by Nampally Criminal Court

A city court on Friday granted regular bail to popular Tollywood actor Allu Arjun in the Sandhya Theatre stampede case. Nampally Criminal Court, which had reserved its orders on January 30, pronounced the same, granting regular bail to the actor, who was on interim bail for four weeks given by Telangana High Court.

The Nampally Court directed Allu Arjun to deposit two sureties of Rs 50,000 each. The court also directed him to cooperate with the investigation and appear before Chikkadpally Police Station every Sunday. Allu Arjun’s counsel Ashok Reddy said the court also directed him not to influence the witnesses.

Police had opposed the bail petition of the actor while his lawyers had contended that he couldn’t be blamed for the incident. A woman was killed and her son was critically injured in the stampede at Sandhya Theatre during the premiere show of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’.

The police booked the theatre management, Allu Arjun and his team for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Allu Arjun was arrested on December 13 in the case. He was produced before the Nampally court, which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody. His lawyers approached the High Court, which granted him interim bail the same day. The actor, who is named accused number 11 in the case, was released from Chanchalguda Jail the next day.

As the 14-day judicial remand period ended on December 27, the actor had to present himself before the court for further proceedings. After obtaining permission from the court, the actor appeared through video conference.

The court had taken up the petition for regular bail on December 27. As the police had sought time to file its counter to the bail petition, the court had adjourned the hearing to December 30. While granting interim bail for four weeks on December 13, the High Court had asked Allu Arjun to move the trial court for regular bail.

As part of the investigation into the stampede, the police interrogated Allu Arjun on December 24. He was questioned for three hours at Chikkadpally Police Station based on a 10-minute video prepared by the police by compiling CCTV footage of the incident.

(Except for the headline, the copy is not edited by DNA staff, and is published from IANS)