Hyderabad: Telangana High Court on Friday granted interim bail to Telugu actor Allu Arjun in a case related to the death of a women in a stampede at a theatre during the premiere of Pushpa 2: The Rule. The court issued the order hours after a local court remanded the actor to 14 days judicial custody in the case. Police took him into custody from his residence and recorded his arrest on Friday morning amid tight security.

The HC issued the order granting bail to Arjun while he was being taken to the jail. In the order, the court directed the actor to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation.

In the plea before the HC, Allu Arjun requested to quash the FIR against him in the stampede case. 

During the hearing, the bench while expressing its inclination to grant interim bail orally remarked, "It's actually bothering me. Just because he is an actor, can he be held like this? There are no ingredients...On this earth, he has the right to life and liberty. It can't be taken away by virtue of being an actor".

The Case
A 35-year-old woman died and her eight-year-old son was hospitalised in the stampede which took place on December 4 night when a large number of fans thronged the Sandhya theatre here to have a glimpse of the actor. The city police have registered a case against Allu Arjun, his security team, and the theatre management under sections 105 and 118(1) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at the Chikkadpally police station based on the complaint lodged by the deceased woman's family.

Allu Arjun last week announced Rs 25 lakh to the family of the deceased and also assured the grieving family that they are not alone in this painful situation and he will meet the family personally.

Earlier, the police arrested three persons -- one of the owners of the theatre, its senior manager and lower balcony incharge (at the theatre) -- in connection with the case registered over the death of the woman due to asphyxiation as crowds jostled at the theatre during the premiere show of Allu Arjun's movie. According to the police, a huge crowd had gathered at the theatre to watch the movie and have a glimpse of the movie's lead actors coming to the theatre. However, there was no intimation from the side of the theatre management or actors team that they would be visiting the theatre.

"The theatre management did not make any additional provisions regarding security to manage the crowd nor was there any separate entry or exit for the actors team though the theatre management had information about their arrival," a police release had said.

Around 9.30 pm on December 4, Allu Arjun came to the theatre with his personal security and people gathered there tried to enter the theatre with him.

"His (Allu Arjun) personal security team started pushing the public, which further aggravated the situation as there was already a huge gathering at the theatre. Taking advantage of this situation along with the actor and his security team, a large number of people entered inside the lower balcony area.

"In this, one Revathi and her son felt suffocated due to a large public influx and immediately the police personnel who were on duty pulled them out of the public from the lower balcony and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on her son and immediately shifted them to a hospital, where the doctor informed that she was dead," it said.
The boy is now undergoing treatment in a Super Speciality Hospital. 

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