‘I was inside the theatre, accident happened outside’: Allu Arjun denies direct connection to stampede death – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Actor Allu Arjun on Saturday denied any direction connection to the stampede outside Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad on December 4, which claimed life of one women and left her son critically injured. The incident happened Allu Arjun appeared for the premier of his latest movie ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’.
The Telugu superstar called the incident purely accidental and said that he will personally help the victim’s family in whatever way possible.
“We are extremely sorry for the family. I will personally be there to help them in whatever way possible. I was inside the theatre watching a movie with my family and the accident happened outside. It has no direct connection with me. It was purely accidental and unintentional,” said Allu Arjun in a press meet.
“I have been going to the same theatre for the last 20 years, and I have been to the same place more than 30 times. There has never been an accident like this before. I should reserve my comments because I don’t want to say anything that will tamper the case,” he added.

Earlier, the Pushpa 2 star called the incident “unfortunate” after he was released from Chanchalguda Jail early morning after the Telangana high court granted him interim bail stating that he is entitled to the fundamental right to life and liberty, regardless of his celebrity status.
“I thank everyone for the love and support. I want to thank all my fans. There is nothing to worry about. I am fine. I am a law-abiding citizen and will cooperate. I would like to once again express my condolences to the family. It was an unfortunate incident. We are sorry for what happened,” he said after he reached home.

He was sent to 14-days judicial custody by a lower court on Friday after the Telangana police arrested the actor from his residence.
Telangana Police had registered a case under sections 105 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 118(1) (Voluntarily causing hurt) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Chikkadpally police station after receiving complaint from the deceased family.
The state police blamed the actor for the incident and dismissed allegations there weren’t sufficient arrangements in place to manage the large crowd that had gathered.
The state police said that organisers “did not meet any officer and simply submitted the letter in the inward section”. The police said that the “crowd was well in control” before Allu Arjun “came out from the sun roof of his vehicle and started waving to the public gathered”.
“This gesture attracted a lot of public towards the theatre main gate. At the same time his private security started pushing people to make way for his vehicle. His team was intimated to take him back citing large public gathering but they didn’t act on it and Allu Arjun was there inside the theatre for more than two hours. Therefore, it is clear that adequate police bandobust was in place, it was his actions which led to this unfortunate incident,” the Telangana police said.