The Hyderabad police have summoned actor Allu Arjun to appear before them on Tuesday about the probe into the stampede at Sandhya Theatre which killed one woman. The investigators served notice to the actor on Monday.
However, senior police officials have not yet confirmed the summons with the media. Reports are that the actor has been told to appear before them at 11 am at Chikadpally police station. The security has been beefed up near the police station.
This is the actor's first interrogation after the police released a CCTV video which purportedly showed him staying back in the theatre even after the police informed him about the stampede death. The summons also comes amid contrasting statements made by the actor and the police regarding the permission for his visit to the theatre ahead of the screening of Pushpa-2.
The actor is said to have consulted his legal team ahead of the visit.
Meanwhile, the political row over the stampede intensified on Monday with both the BJP and BRS targeting the ruling Congress over alleged lapses in law and order which resulted in the vandalism outside Allu Arjun's home. BJP MP D K Aruna alleged that four of the perpetrators were from Kodangal, the constituency of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, suggesting a political conspiracy.
The Congress stated that neither Chief Minister Revanth Reddy nor the state government was against the film industry or Allu Arjun. The Chief Minister had launched a scathing attack on Allu Arjun, blaming him for the stampede.
However, Allu Arjun’s father-in-law Kancharla Chandrasekhar Reddy on Monday tried to meet the AICC in-charge of Telangana Deepa Dasmunsi at Gandhi Bhavan but was unable to. Deepa Dasmunsi claimed she did not recognise him after which he left the party office. TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud, who learned about his visit, spoke to Chandrasekhar Reddy over the phone. Goud said Reddy met Dasmunsi later.
Chandrasekhar Reddy is a Congress leader, who quit Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to join the party in February.