Allu Arjun granted regular bail in theatre stampede case by Hyderabad court

Telugu film industry superstar and 'Pushpa 2' actor Allu Arjun on Friday was granted bail by Hyderabad's Nampally court in the Sandhya Theatre stampede case.

II Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge had earlier reserved the order for today after hearing arguments from the lawyers of the actor and the police.

Ashok Reddy, advocate for Allu Arjun, told PTI that the court directed the actor to furnish two sureties, who shall execute bond for Rs 50,000 each.


Allu Arjun has to appear before the investigating officer on Sunday, Reddy told reporters.

A stampede took place on December 4 at the Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad as Allu Arjun attended the premiere of 'Pushpa 2: The Rule'. A massive crowd gathered to catch a glimpse of the actor, and chaos followed when he waved to fans from the sunroof of his car. The stampede led to the death of a woman named Revathi and her son suffered serious injuries.

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 a complaint lodged by the deceased woman's family.

The actor was arrested on December 13 in connection with the incident and released from the jail on December 14 after the Telangana High Court granted him interim bail for four weeks which would end on January 10.

Allu Arjun, who was named as accused no 11 in the case, had earlier filed the regular bail petition in court. He appeared through video conference before the court on December 27.
The actor was arrested after the incident and was released on a bond of Rs 50,000.

Arjun's defence team was led by senior counsel Reddy. He had argued that the actor did not intend to harm anyone and emphasized that no prohibition orders had been issued by the police on the day of the premiere.

Reddy also pointed out that similar stampedes had occurred during previous movie premieres, such as those for the film Raees.

The public prosecutor, however, had opposed the actor’s bail, claiming that the stampede was triggered by Arjun's unannounced arrival at the venue.

Meanwhile, The Security Association of Telangana (SAT) has raised concerns over the bouncers present during the event, alleging that they were not affiliated with any registered agencies.

SAT president D Srikanth stated that the lack of accountability for the security personnel was tarnishing the reputation of legitimate private security agencies.