Kannada actors' death: After 3 days of eluding cops, film director surrenders

BENGALURU: Three accused people in the ‘Maasthi Gudi’ tragedy – director Nagashekhar, assistant director Siddu and stunt choreographer Ravi Varma, who were absconding since Monday – surrendered before the Tavarekere police on Saturday morning. After recording their statements, the police produced them before the court and remanded them in judicial custody.

While the police teams were searching for the absconding accused, the three went to the station along with the film’s lead actor Duniya Vijay and surrendered before the police.

Mr Vijay told reporters that the trio came to hi0s house in the morning and he convinced them to surrender before the police. “They are shocked by the incident and were worried about the consequences. I convinced them that going absconding would not serve any purpose and they should come out of the case soon. They agreed to surrender and I brought them to the station,” he said.

Soon after they surrendered, the police questioned them separately and recorded their statements. “They claimed that they had taken all safety measures, but unfortunately the incident occurred. But their statements are not matching. We are gathering evidence against the accused,” an official said.

Later in the evening, they were produced before the Second JMFC Court in Ramanagar and the court remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days. They were shifted to the Ramanagar District Jail following the court direction. The police had earlier arrested producer Sundar P. Gowda in connection with the incident. The fifth accused in the case, unit manager S. Bharath, is still at large and efforts are on to nab him.

Vijay demands fair probe
Actor Duniya Vijay demanded an impartial probe into the case. He said that the arrest of producer in this case was not at all necessary. “There are no instances of booking a producer in such incidents. The police should carry out an impartial probe and then book the people concerned,” he said.