A team from Andhra Pradesh Police descended at filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’s house in Hyderabad on Monday over his failure to turn up for interrogation related to derogatory social media comments against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his family.
The police officials of the Ongole Rural Police went to Varma’s house to arrest him but found that the controversial director was not available. Sources close to him said that he had left for Coimbatore. Varma, also known as RGV, had earlier asked for a four-day extension to comply with the police summons.
The case is based on the complaint lodged by local leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Ramalingam, who stated that Varma’s statements damaged the reputations of several key persons, including Chief Minister Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and IT Minister Nara Lokesh. Following this complaint over his alleged defamatory statements during the promotional events of his film “Vyuham” late in the previous year, police booked the case on November 11.
Following complaints, a case was booked against Varma under Section 336(4) and 353(2) of the BNS Act and Section 67 of the IT Act at Maddipadu police station. He was served a notice on November 13 asking him to appear before the investigating officer.
To validate his case, Varma approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court to seek relief, which was rejected by the court. The court explained that it did not have the power to grant bail on a petition for a quash. Varma’s counsel had expressed apprehensions over the possibility of arrest. The Judge then advised him to file a separate bail application.
