By Rishika Sadam
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) – A top movie actor in southern India was arrested on Friday, a week after a woman died and her son was seriously injured in the crush of fans that his surprise appearance at the premiere of his film provoked, police said.
Allu Arjun, prominent in the Telugu film industry, based in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where film stars are revered by die-hard fans, appeared at the film premiere in Hyderabad on Dec. 4.
As fans clamoured to meet him, a 39-year-old woman died and her nine-year-old son was critically injured. Police earlier this week arrested the owner of the theatre where the incident took place, and on Friday they arrested Arjun at his residence.
He was granted bail by a local court a few hours after his arrest and he was expected to be released from prison shortly, his counsel said.
Arjun, 41, was named in the initial police complaint, which alleged that his personal security detail had tried to clear the crowd near him, causing the death of the woman who had become breathless, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.
Arjun’s counsel has denied any wrongdoing on his part, and he has publicly apologised for the incident.
Actors in southern India, which has a thriving film industry independent of Bollywood, are larger than life figures, with fan clubs who often build temples to their idols, and bathe their posters in milk during premieres.
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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