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Popular Telugu film star Allu Arjun was arrested and released on bail following a deadly crush at the premiere of his latest film in Hyderabad. The crush killed a 39-year-old woman and critically injured her son. Arjun had made a surprise appearance at the premiere.
A court initially sentenced the actor to 14 days in police custody but hours later, the high court granted him bail. Police had filed a case against the actor, his security team and the theatre's management staff on charges of culpable homicide. The owner and two employees of the theatre were arrested earlier.
On Friday, the police arrived at the actor's home and took him into custody, following which he was produced in a local court.
Police said Allu Arjun arrived at the theatre at 21:30 local time (16:00GMT) through the main entrance.
"There was no intimation from the side of the theatre management or the actor's team that they would be visiting," Hyderabad police chief CV Anand said.
"His personal security team started pushing the public which further aggravated the situation as there was already a huge gathering at the theatre," a police statement said.
Arjun's lawyer said in court that the actor could be not held responsible for the incident and that the crush took place on a different floor from where he was.
As chaos broke out, a 39-year-old woman and her nine-year-old son were pulled out of the crowd as they felt "suffocated", police said. They were given first aid, before being taken to hospital. While the woman died there, her son was shifted to a different hospital where he is still being treated.
Shortly after the incident, Allu Arjun wrote on X that he was "heartbroken by the tragic incident".
"My heartfelt condolences go out to the grieving family during this unimaginably difficult time. I want to assure them they are not alone in this pain and will meet the family personally," he wrote.
He later announced assistance of 2.5m rupees ($29,480; £23,346) for the woman's family and promised to take care of the medical expenses for her son.
