Allu Arjun's counsel mentions Shah Rukh Khan's train incident during bail hearing after arrest

Allu Arjun and Shah Rukh Khan

It was quite a day for Telugu superstar and National Award-winning actor Allu Arjun on Friday. The day began with him getting detained by the Telangana police in connection to the death of a woman in a stampede at the 'Pushpa 2' premiere on December 4. Soon after, a court passed a 14-day judicial custody of the actor to the police. However, by evening he was granted interim bail after an early hearing in court. During the interim bail hearing at the Telangana High Court, Allu Arjun's counsel mentioned Shah Rukh Khan and his 2017 train incident in his argument.

In January 2017, as part of the promotions for his film Raees, superstar Shah Rukh Khan decided to travel by an express train. When the train reached Vadodara station, a crowd of over 1000 people arrived at the station causing a stampede. It led to the death of a man and leaving several injured. A complaint was filed against Khan, stating he was responsible for the stampede as he threw t-shirts and smiley balls at the crowd. The Gujarat High Court had quashed the complaint filed against Shah Rukh Khan for the stampede, which had killed one person and injured several others. The Supreme Court later upheld the High Court order.

Allu Arjun's counsel used the case to strengthen their argument in the court as it is similar in nature to that of the Telugu superstar. The defense highlighted that Shah Rukh Khan was deemed not liable for the stampede, even though he directly interacted with the crowd by throwing items, which were alleged to have caused the chaos. In contrast, they argued, Allu Arjun did not engage with the crowd during the Sandhya Theatre incident.

The actor's counsel S. Niranjan Reddy argued that the actor can't be held responsible for the stampede. He also informed the court that the theatre management and producer had informed the police in advance about Allu Arjun's visit.

The Public Prosecutor told the court that Allu Arjun visited the theatre despite a request by police not to come in view of the possibility of a huge gathering. The court was informed that the actor reached the theatre in a rally.

About Allu Arjun's arrest

A police team took the national award-winning actor into custody from his house in Jubilee Hills, hours after his return from Delhi, where he attended the success meet of ‘Pushpa 2'.

Allu Arjun's father, a well-known filmmaker Allu Arvind, actor brother Allu Sirish and other family members were present when he was arrested.

The police team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Akanksh Yadav questioned Allu Arjun for nearly two hours in the light of the statements made by eye-witnesses.

The police, which arrested the National Award-winning actor from his residence in Hyderabad, produced him before a magistrate Nampally Criminal Court complex. He was named accused number 11 in the case.

The Ninth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate sent the actor to judicial custody till December 27.

Police had registered a case under sections 105 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 118(1) (Voluntarily causing hurt) r/w 3(5) BNS against Allu Arjun, his security team and the management of the theatre.

The case was registered at Chikkadpally Police Station on December 5 on a complaint by the deceased woman's husband. The police arrested the theatre owner, general manager and security manager on December 8.

According to police there was no intimation from theatre management or the actor's team that they would be visiting the theatre. The theatre management also did not make any additional provisions regarding security to manage the crowd.