You could say the star is in the crosshairs of a high-stakes legal tussle after being hauled before the Nampally Criminal Court. For those in the trade and his fans, the mood is a bit of a wait-and-see: there’s been a tragedy, a list of 23 accused, and a court date that will put some of this to rest or at least move it along.
People are not only talking about the box office numbers anymore. The talk is of accountability, what happens when you have a fan event and crowd control doesn’t hold up, and how the industry is supposed to handle the kind of frenzy we saw here.
What set this in motion
It all comes down to a December 2024 scuffle at the Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad for a special screening of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’. The push from the crowd was too much; a woman, Revathi, was the one to die, and her son was left with some hard injuries.
Depending on who you ask, the details don’t always line up. Some will tell you the victim was 39 and suffocated, and the boy is an eight-year-old Sreetej. Others have the age at 35 and the son as Sri Tej with brain damage. But they all point to the same place, and some put the date on December 4, 2024.
The chargesheet in detail
After their probe, the Chikkadapally police put together a chargesheet with 23 people in it. You have the theatre’s side of things, from management to staff, as A1 through A10. Then there is Allu Arjun, the 11th name. That has got some in the film and political world riled up.
The police have a list of where they think things were let down: no permission for the show, not enough security, not heeding warnings. They are making a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for culpable homicide. In a way, they say the team pushed on with the visit even with the red flags there.
When he has to be in court on the 22nd
A notice from the IX Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate made it clear Arjun is to be there in person. His lawyers put in for a way out, saying he has work in Mumbai and can make do with a video link.
Now you have two stories. One has it the Nampally court won’t have any of the virtual thing and wants him in the room. Another has it that they may have caved and given the okay for a screen appearance on the 22nd. Either way, the court is the one calling the shots.
For the star and his following
He has been through this before with an arrest and then some interim bail, before the Telangana High Court gave him regular bail with strings attached. On the other side, the family has been made whole in some way with money for medical and what have you, by way of a humanitarian gesture.
Here is what is on paper and in the courts so far:
– 23 in the dock per the chargesheet
– Theatre side (A1 to A10) on the list
– Arjun is number 11
– He is to be in court on the 22nd
– Was held on Dec 13, 2024, but has since been bailed out
His schedule is still full. He is on set with Atlee for Raaka, with Deepika in the picture. They are at it until 2026 and looking to put the film out in late 2027.
Then there is Pushpa 3: The Rampage and something with Sandeep Reddy Vanga on the horizon. Show up in the flesh or on a monitor on the 22nd, the law has more to say. Until then, the focus is on the court, the charges, and the open questions of how to keep order when a star is in town.
