Allu Arjun Breaks Silence, Clarifies His Actions

Hyderabad: Asserting that there is an attempt for his character assassination, actor Allu Arjun on Saturday said that he only came to know about the death of the woman the next day and the stampede row was being tainted with misinformation.

"I can’t keep quiet when somebody assassinates character and questions my honesty. I am not inhumane, if I was, I would not in return get so much love. I feel bad that my character is being tarnished,” he said.

This was said at a press conference in his residence hours after the stampede row was discussed in the Assembly with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and AIMIM floor leader and Chandrayangutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi speaking about it.

Denying that he went to the theatre without permission, the actor said that he followed the police when he was heading into the theatre.

Further defending himself in the press conference with his father Allu Arvind and advocate Ashok Reddy sitting next to him, he said that he never held a road show while he was returning from the theatre.

“I waved to the crowd from my car so that the crowd disperses,” he said. Further clarifying about it, he said that people come to see the hero and generally after a glimpse they start leaving the place.

He said that if cops had informed him that there was a death and the situation was so tense while he was watching the film, why would he leave his wife and child in the theatre?, he asked

Speaking about Sai Tej who lost his mother and is presently undergoing treatment in a hospital, the Pushpa 2 actor said that legal constraints stopped him from meeting the child.

“When a case has been booked, meeting the boy is legally incorrect, even my father had to take police permission to go to the hospital where the child is being treated,” he said.

“If the police give me permission I will straightaway go and meet him,” he added, saying he is taking hourly updates about the child's health.

“After getting to know about the unfortunate death of my fan, I was shell-shocked. I was allowed to put out a video of a condolence message and nothing more,” he said, speaking about Sai Tej’s mother Revathi, 35, who breathed her last in the stampede. The lawyer told the actor that Revathi died due to suffocation.

“I have been very sad for 15 days with legal constraints stopping me from visiting the child. I released a video to express my support to the victim's family,” he said.

He mentioned that for the first time he did not see his film in the theatre in which he was involved for three years as he was very upset about the incident. His father Allu Arvind too said most of the time he is sitting in the garden regretting about the incident. The actor refused to answer the questions by media citing legal constraints and expressed condolences for the family of Revathi.