To defend myself I pushed him: Manga Reddy

HYDERABAD: Ad filmmaker, P. Sharath Kumar, who was allegedly assaulted by regional Censor Board member and fashion designer Manga Reddy had shot a video for one of Manga’s projects nearly two months ago, and the two had got into an argument over editing of the same. 

 

On Thursday night, Sharath had been sleeping at his friend Rakesh’s flat at Tulasi Hills in Srinagar colony. Another friend, Balu, a cinematographer, was also with them.

 

In the night, Manga and Sharath had an exchange of WhatsApp messages over the same argument and at around 12.45 am, Manga, along with her friend Kishan, barged into the flat.

 

“When Sharath opened the door, both of them started hitting him. She took a rod and hit him on the head. He was bleeding profusely. She then took out a razor and cut his long hair and shaved of his head partly,” said Rakesh, adding that the two were heavily drunk and abused them and even threatened to stall the release of the movie Sharath was working on.

 

“She said she could spend any amount and by using her influence as a member of the board, she would stop the movie from releasing,” added Rakesh.

 

Manga, however, denied the reports saying that she was very depressed with the abusive remarks he had made against women, including his own mother and sister. “He made abusive comments about my designs and even used filthy language on me when I tried to stop him. On Thursday night, I went to his flat to talk, but he tried to attack me as I entered. There were three men and I was alone. To defend myself, I pushed him away. He fell on the air cooler and injured his head,” said Manga.

 

She added that Sharath had been her good friend and she had helped him financially many times as he did not have a proper job. But he had behaved rudely towards her.

 

Based on a complaint lodged by Sharath, police has registered a case under Sections 324 & 448 of IPC and has issued notices to Manga, who has also lodged a complaint of harassment against Sharath for sending her abusive messages. The case is being investigated.