Theatre stampede victim's husband ready to withdraw case against Allu Arjun

In a new twist to the Hyderabad theatre stampede case in which actor Allu Arjun was arrested on Friday, the husband of a woman who died in the stampede said that he is ready to withdraw the case.

Bhaskar, husband of Revathi who was killed in the stampede at Sandhya Theatre during the premier show of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ on December 4, told mediapersons that police had not informed him about Allu Arjun’s arrest.

Bhaskar also said that the actor has nothing to do with the stampede in which his wife died. “My son wanted to see the movie. I took the family to Sandhya Theatre. Allu Arjun had come there but it was not his mistake,” he said, adding that he was ready to withdraw the case.

Bhaskar was speaking to the media at the hospital, where his eight-year-old son is still undergoing treatment.

Allu Arjun was arrested by police on Friday in connection with the case. He was produced before a city court.

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, when Allu Arjun came to the theatre with his personal security, all the people gathered there tried to enter the theatre with him. His personal security team started pushing the public which further aggravated the situation as there was already a huge gathering at the theatre.

According to police, Revathi (35) died and her son Sri Tej felt suffocated due to the large public influx and the police personnel who were on duty pulled them out of the public from the lower balcony and performed CPR on her son and immediately shifted them to the nearby hospital.

While Revathi was declared dead at the hospital, Sri Tej is still undergoing treatment.

Police said that there was no intimation from the side of theatre management or the actor’s team that they would be visiting the theatre.

Allu Arjun on December 6 announced assistance of Rs 25 lakh for the deceased’s family and said that he is ‘deeply heartbroken’.

The actor assured the grieving family that he would meet them personally and extend every possible assistance.

Allu Arjun also promised to take care of the medical expenses of the boy.