Actor Allu Arjun was interrogated by the police for more than three-and-a-half hours on Tuesday over the stampede at Sandhya Theatre that claimed the life of a woman and left her eight-year-old son critically injured.

Meanwhile, the police arrested his bouncer Antony in connection with the mishap.

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The Pushpa actor reached the Chikkadpally police station at around 11:05 am and was let off around 2:45 pm after his statement was recorded by the police. His advocate was present during the interrogation. His father and father-in-law accompanied the actor to the police station.

During the interrogation, Allu Arjun was reportedly asked who decided to go ahead with the plan to watch the film at Sandhya Theatres despite the denial of permission for the same by the police. When was he informed about the death in the stampede?

An investigating team comprising DCP, central zone, and ACP, Chikkadpally conducted the interrogation. The police had made elaborate security arrangements around the police station anticipating a large crowd of his fans thronging the place.

The notice issued to the actor for his appearance before the police today also mentioned that he might be taken to the spot for reconstruction of the events on that fateful night. However, the actor came back straight to his residence at Jubilee Hills after the interrogation and recording of his statement.

In the meantime, his Jubilee Hills residence was covered by white sheets from all sides after vandalism on Sunday.

After Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad C V Anand gave a stern warning to bouncers for pushing the public and disregarding policemen at events the police arrested Antony, who had organised the bouncers on 4 December, the evening of the stampede. The ten-minute-long video released by the Hyderabad Police on the stampede clearly showed over-enthusiastic bouncers pushing people indiscriminately when Allu Arjun entered the hall through the sole entrance, contributing to the chaos and the crush.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders continued their tirade against Allu Arjun after he complained of character assassination following Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s statement about the stampede in the state Assembly. Today, Congress MLA of Nizamabad Bhupathi Reddy warned of boycotting Allu Arjun’s film even as Pushpa 2 continued to break records.

Since the actor hails from Andhra Pradesh, he questioned his contribution to Telangana. “Allu Arvind, Allu Arjun, be careful. Pushpa is a useless movie. How dare you speak against the chief minister? You are just a street artist from Andhra Pradesh. So, behave… if you speak against the chief minister, I will ensure not a single movie of yours runs in the state.”

Earlier, Congress MLC Teenmar Mallanna lodged a complaint with the police against the movie Pushpa saying it portrays police in a derogatory fashion. D Seethakka, a minister in the Revanth Reddy government, wondered how Pushpa, which glorifies smuggling, got a national award while a socially relevant film like Jai Bhim was overlooked.