Telangana Police booked filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma in accordance with a legal order in connection with his proposed controversial movie ‘Murder’ on the basis of a speculated episode of honour killing. A case against Varma and producer Natti Karuna was filed at Miryalaguda Town- I police station in Nalgonda district. The court issued the statement on a petition booked by P.Balaswamy, whose son Pranay Kumar was brutally killed in 2018 by his father-in-law Maruthi Rao in terms of refusing to accept his marriage with his daughter.
Varma and the producer were booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and other sections of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act.
Balaswamy had knocked on the doors of the court last month, seeking a ban on the film. He also opined that snaps of Pranay and his daughter-in-law Amrutha were being used in an unlawful manner.
Pranay, a 24-year-old Dalit, was stabbed to death by a contract killer publicly when he along with his wife and mother were making their way out of a private hospital in Miryalaguda on September 14, 2018. This barbaric event was caught on CCTV cameras at the moment.
Maruthi Rao, who belonged to an upper caste, and seven others were put behind bars. Rao, who had struck the deal to kill Pranay for Rs one crore, apparently took his own life in March this year in Hyderabad.
Varma declared last month that he has plans to helm a film on the narrative of Maruthi Rao and his daughter. “On the occasion of Father’s Day I am launching the first look poster of a film based on the tragic story of Amrutha and her over loving father Maruthi Rao,” the director had tweeted on June 21.
This is going to be a heart wrenching story based on the Amrutha and Maruthi Rao saga of the DANGERS of a father LOVING a daughter too much ..Launching the poster of a SAD FATHER’S film on HAPPY FATHER’S DAY #MURDERlove pic.twitter.com/t5Lwdz3zGZ
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 21, 2020
“This is going to be a heart wrenching story based on the Amrutha and Maruthi Rao saga of the dangers of a father loving a daughter too much.”
Amrutha, who still resides with her in-laws, had impulsive reactions to Varma’s plans and pledged to fight a legal battle to ban the screening of the film.
“Its foolish to assume that I am going to show someone involved in a negative light because I strongly believe that nobody is bad and only bad circumstances make people look bad or make them behave bad and that’s what I intend to explore in ‘Murder’,” Varma had said in one of the series of tweets on the issue.