Kannada actors' death: Case of culpable homicide against producer

Mumbai: Even after nineteen hours of relentless search, the bodies of the two Kannada actors, Raghav Uday and Anil Verma, presumed dead, have not yet been recovered.

According to a report in NDTV, producer of the Duniya Vijay film, ‘Masti Gudi’ has been charged with a case of culpable homicide. The producer has been absconding ever since the incident took place.

There have been accusations of blatant negligence towards safety measures, since safety harnesses were provided only to the lead actor Vijay, one of Sandalwood’s top stars, and not the supporting stars.

The scene in question needed the three to jump from a helicopter, 30 feet down to the leak. The two stars had revealed they weren’t great swimmers before the shot had been canned, but decided to leave everything to chance.

"The rescue operations are still going on. We will be booking case against those responsible and also inquire into all aspects - whether all adequate measures and permissions were taken or not," Ramanagara Superintendent of Police Dr Chandragupta had told PTI.

Speaking to a Kannada news channel before performing the stunt, Raghav Uday had said he was "scared" of the stunt and was not good at swimming.

"I'm very scared first of all. I have not done (such stunt) so far, nor have I seen anyone performing such stunt so far, so I'm scared. Whatever safety is done there is always a fear within oneself, despite that the situation is that I have to perform it... He also said he was not good in swimming. "...I'm not that good in swimming, I can fall (into water) and come out, but I have never fallen into water from such a height, so there is some sort of fear within me."

Stating that precautionary measures had been taken by the team, he said "preparation is what they have done, they have said that once we fall they will come (in boat), we are dependent on it, if there is anything above it, there is God."