Allu Arjun arrested over woman's death during Sandhya Theatre stampede; Pushpa actor seeks urgent hearing

Pushpa Raj, who got arrested in the film for his illegal exporting, is reportedly arrested in real life too.

Allu Arjun has been arrested by Chikkadpally police station, where a case has been registered in connection with a stampede at the premiere of his film Pushpa 2 in Hyderabad. However, Allu Arjun's PR team has issued a statement: "It is said that he has been called for an enquiry and not for arrest."

Moments ago, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police, C.V. Anand, officially confirmed the arrest of Telugu actor Allu Arjun in connection with the Sandhya Theatre stampede case. Additionally, L Ramesh Kumar, ACP Chikkadpally says, "Yes, he (Actor Allu Arjun) has been arrested."

The actor will be produced before a magistrate later in the day.

Sandhya Theatre stampede incident

The stampede at the Sandhya Theatre had left a 39-year-old woman dead and her son in critical condition. M Revathi, the woman who died, was a homemaker and had come with her family to the premiere as her son is a fan of the actor.

Police had filed a case against the Sandhya Theatre management, the actor, and his security team. Officers had said the police had no prior intimation that the film's team would turn up for the premiere.

Sandhya Theatre's owner and two employees have already been arrested.

According to officers, their probe found that the theater management allegedly did not make additional provisions to manage the crowd. There was no separate entry or exit for the actors' team, police alleged.

Around 9:30 pm, Arjun came to the theater with his personal security, and the crowd tried to enter with him in order to get a glimpse of the actor. His personal security team allegedly started pushing the public, which aggravated the situation.

Allu Arjun had already announced Rs 25 lakh in immediate assistance and promised to take care of medical expenses and all future expenses of the family. Allu Arjun already filed a quash petition in the High Court to relieve him from this case. But the court did not give any direction so far.

At the time of filing the FIR, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Central Zone, Hyderabad Police, Akshansh Yadav, had told, "A case has been filed under BNS section 105 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 118(1) r/w 3(5) (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt) at Chikkadpally police station based on the complaint of the family members of the deceased person. It is being investigated. Stringent action as per law will be taken against all the persons responsible for the chaotic situation inside the theater leading to the death of a person and injury to others."