Rape accused Chennai Express producer Karim Morani almost collapsed during scene reconstruction in Ramoji film city

HYDERABAD: When Bollywood producer Karim Morani, accused of rape, was recently taken to Ramoji film city by police for reconstruction of sequence of events that led to the alleged incident, he almost fainted, police revealed on Thursday.

With his time in Hayathnagar police custody ending on Thursday, police also revealed that they had recovered the Chennai Express producer’s mobile phone from his daughter’s possession. Given apprehensions about his health, police produced him before the Hayathnagar court before sending him back to Cherllapally central prison.

Morani, who was charged with wrongful confinement, rape and cheating of his daughter’s friend was arrested by the Hayathnagar police on September 23, following Supreme Court’s order on September 22 to surrender before the police at the earliest.  The court had granted five days custody of the rape accused for further probe in the case. 

Hayathnagar inspector J Narender Goud, the investigating officer, said Morani had many health complications, including a heart problem. He had undergone two heart bypass surgeries and also had some other health complications.

“Morani takes about 18 pills a day for various ailments. He also showed blood pressure fluctuations during questioning,” said Goud. “We had taken him to Ramoji Film City for scene reconstruction, where he almost fainted. But, we managed to keep him in good health and continued our questioning in a better way to extract information from him,” he said.

Police have recovered a mobile phone used by Morani when the offense allegedly occurred. It reportedly contained some pictures of the victim, which were later deleted by the producer. “Morani’s mobile phone was with his daughter. He was using it earlier and he handed it over to his daughter for safe custody. We are hoping to find crucial evidence with regard to the case from the mobile phone. Even if the data is deleted, we will try to retrieve it,” said the inspector.

Morani denies being SRK’s benami!
Morani, who produced Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan-starer Ra One in 2011 as co-producer, Chennai Express in 2013, Happy New Year in 2014 as associate producer and Dilwale as co-producer, is said to be one of the actor’s closest friends. He is also alleged to be a benami of the star. However, it is learnt that Morani denied those allegations.

Morani was earlier arrested by the CBI in 2011, in connection to the 2G Spectrum scam. “We asked him about the relationship with actor Shahrukh Khan and reports of being his benami,” said inspector Goud.