Hyderabad: Despite police permission being denied, top Telugu actor Allu Arjun attended the theatre where ‘Pushpa-2’ was screened on December 4, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy charged on Saturday.

Even after the death of a woman in a stampede, the actor did not leave the cinema hall, prompting the police to force him out, CM alleged.

Responding to the issue after AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi raised it in the Assembly, Reddy, referring to videos in circulation, found fault with Allu Arjun for holding a roadshow and waving to the crowds in spite of the heavy crowd.

Reddy further said the theatre management gave a letter to the police on December 2 seeking security for the visit of top actors and others on December 4. However, the police rejected the application, citing difficulties in crowd management.

Before entering the theatre and exiting, the actor stood through the sunroof of his car and waved to the crowds leading to thousands of fans jostling to get a glimpse of him, he said.

He slammed film personalities for making a beeline for Allu Arjun’s residence to meet him after his arrest but not showing empathy to visit the boy who is undergoing treatment in hospital after suffering injuries in the incident.

“I appeal to the top film personalities that they should not be inhuman,” he said.

He also said there won’t be any special privileges when untoward incidents like death in a stampede happen and said the government would not spare those who troubled common people.

A 35-year-old woman died and her eight-year-old son was hospitalised on December 4 during a stampede-like situation at the Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad when thousands of fans jostled to have a glimpse of the actor at the premiere of the blockbuster ‘Pushpa 2,’.

Following the incident, the city police registered a case against Allu Arjun, his security team, and the theatre management under different sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Chikkadpally police station based on the complaint lodged by the deceased woman’s family.

Allu Arjun was arrested by the city police in connection with the death of the woman on December 13. The Telangana High Court granted him a four-week interim bail on the same day and he was released from the prison here on December 14 morning.

Beed/Parbhani (Maharashtra), Dec 21: As Maharashtra is politically rocked by two ‘most foul deaths’, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday visited the families of the victims – a murdered Sarpanch from Beed and a Dalit man of Parbhani found dead in judicial custody.

He was accompanied by NCP (SP) MPs Fauzia Khan (Rajya Sabha), Bajrang M. Sonawane (Beed) and Nilesh D. Lanke (Ahmednagar), besides MLAs Rajesh Tope (Ghansawangi) and Sandeep Kshirsagar (Beed), along with a large number of local units party leaders, workers and villagers.

Pawar, 84, took a helicopter to visit the two districts on Saturday – first going to Beed’s Massajog village whose Sarpanch (Headman) Santosh Pandit Deshmukh, 45, was abducted, brutally tortured and then killed on December 9, by some alleged political rivals when he attempted to foil a huge extortion racket at the AVG windmill company.

Subsequently, Pawar flew down to Parbhani where a Dalit man, Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi, 35, a law student, was allegedly beaten by the police in the aftermath of the sacrilege of a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar (December 10), the subsequent violence and his arrest on December 12, and death in judicial remand on December 15.

In Beed, after lending a patient ear to the Sarpanch’s widow, mother, brother, daughter and other villagers, the NCP (SP) supremo readily agreed to foot the education bills of Deshmukh’s daughter Vaibhavi, and also assured all help for the family’s safe and secure future.

The Deshmukh family members broke down before Pawar and other visitors, accused the Beed Police of not conducting the probe properly, demanded that all the absconding accused must be arrested immediately and many from an adjoining village, and the suspected mastermind, Walmiki Karad still absconding 13 days after the killing.

Vaibhavi Deshmukh said she did not even get a final glimpse of her father who was ruthlessly beaten, and demanded that his killers should be given a similar tough punishment, and demanded justice for the family and the villagers, seeking that the trial be conducted in a fast track court.

Sonawane (MP from Beed), his eyes moist, said that there is an atmosphere of ‘terror’ in the village, when the Sarpanch could meet such a ghastly end, the people are wondering ‘whose turn will be next’.

Many have demanded the resignation of ruling NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde who is reportedly cosy with the fugitive prime wanted Walmiki Karad, a former Mayor of Parli Municipal Council.

Perturbed by the narrations, a distressed Pawar demanded that all the killers and the conspirators must be caught and taught a lesson, the Centre and state governments must take serious note.

“The masses are stunned, and they are people who contribute to the sugar industry in this region. What has happened is not acceptable as the Sarpanch was killed for something he was not connected with,” said Pawar grimly.

He said that there’s no need to bring in caste-community in this case, and pointed out how the NCP (SP) General Secretary Jitendra Awhad and Sandeep Kshirsagar raised the matter in the Legislative Assembly.

“You are not alone in this grief… we are with you, the lawyers are behind you. Please leave your fears behind. I shall convey your sentiments to the government. After Sonawane’s speech in Parliament plus Awhad and Kshirsagar’s statements in the Assembly, people were stunned and are asking what’s going on in different states in the country,” remarked Pawar.

In Parbhani, Pawar questioned the state government why violence was used when the crowds were protesting peacefully and said “this is not acceptable, justice for Suryawanshi’s death is non-negotiable”, while promising to submit the evidence handed over by the family to the CM and other authorities.

Condemning both the deaths, Pawar said that although the CM has announced several measures, compensation and probes, “nothing can bring back the two persons nor erase the grief of both the tragedy-hit families”.

Incidentally, after Pawar’s visits, his nephew and NCP President, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar also rushed to Beed and Parbhani this evening where he encountered angry crowds, and Congress Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha will travel to Parbhani on Monday afternoon.

Mumbai, Dec 21: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will visit Parbhani on Monday to meet the family of a Dalit youth who died under mysterious circumstances while in judicial custody last week, officials said here on Saturday.

Rahul Gandhi will reach Nanded by a special flight on Monday afternoon and from there drive to Parbhani to the home of the youth, Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi and condole his family members.

Suryawanshi, 35, hailing from the Wadar community, was arrested in the violent incidents that ensued after the desecration of a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar near Parbhani Railway Station on December 10, by one ‘mentally disturbed’ person named Sopan Pawar.

After the violence, a tense shutdown was observed in Parbhani, while the local police swooped down and detained/arrested around 300 persons, mostly Dalits, including Suryawanshi on December 12.

Barely 72 hours later, he was found dead in judicial custody, sparking a massive furore with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), CPI (Marxist), Republican Party of India (A), Republican Sena, Republican Party of India (K), and many other Dalit groups slamming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party MahaYuti regime for the incident.

Following the uproar inside the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur and outside, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced compensation for the bereaved family, ordered a judicial probe and appointed a Special Investigation Team of the police to get to the depth of the matter.

Earlier, the Parbhani Police had claimed that Suryawanshi had complained of chest pains and was rushed to hospital for treatment. However, a provisional autopsy report from the Government Medical College, Aurangabad had stated that he succumbed to “shock following multiple injuries”, snowballing into a huge political row.

The MVA and Dalit leaders had vociferously alleged that he was brutally beaten by the police and had succumbed to grave injuries, as was later confirmed by the provisional post-mortem report of December 16.