Kannada actors' death: Five cases of negligence against absconding producer, search ops on

After nineteen hours of intense search, the bodies have still not been found. Meanwhile, five cases have been registered against the producer who is absconding since the incident took place.

Kannada actor Prem spoke to Times Now and urged people not to speculate.

''If they could spend so much on hiring the chopper then why no budget for safety. They could atleast have thought about the lives of the actors. This is pure negligence,'' said actor Aindrita Ray to Times Now.

Earlier, the crew was shooting the climax scene of regional Kannada film "Maastigudi" when Anil Verma, 31, and Raghav Uday, 38, plunged into Thippagondanahalli reservoir in southern Karnataka state.

"The two actors have drowned to death as they could not swim and were not rescued in time," local inspector H.L. Nandeesha told AFP.

Television footage showed the two stuntmen and Duniya Vijay, one of Kannada cinema's top actors, jump from a height of about 30 feet and surface in the water after a few seconds. But only Vijay managed to swim back to shore safely.


Actors Anil Raghav (L) and Uday(R) weren't good swimmers. (Image: PTI)

In Pic: 2 Kannada actors who went missing after they jumped from a chopper into Thippagondanahalli Reservoir during movie shoot in B'lore pic.twitter.com/9OKEYDT0u8

— ANI (@ANI_news) November 7, 2016

Police have registered a criminal case of negligence against the producers "as precautionary and safety measures were not taken for the shoot," senior officer, Chandragupta, told AFP.

"There were no life jackets, no rescue team nor an ambulance," he added.

The two men had been missing for more than three hours before their bodies were found.