Year after, no relief for accused in Maasti Gudi tragedy

BENGALURU: The High Court on Friday remanded the case of the Maasti Gudi film tragedy to a lower court in Ramanagara for fresh consideration. The film shoot saw two artistes drown while filming an action scene of the duo jumping into TG Halli reservoir on November 7, 2016.

The producer of the movie Sundar P Gowda, director R Nagashekar, assistant directors Maradappa and S Bharath Rao, and stunt director K Ravikumar sought the High Court to quash the criminal proceedings initiated against them before a lower court in Ramanagara.

A criminal case was booked against them after the incident claimed the lives of actors Uday Raghav and Anil Kumar when they jumped into the waters from a hovering helicopter along with cine star Duniya Vijay.

While remanding back the case to the lower court, Justice Aravind Kumar set aside the two orders passed by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) courts in Magadi and Ramanagara for taking cognisance of the offences and also framing charges under Section 304 of the IPC for punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.The court said the orders were set aside for lapses in following the procedure in taking cognizance of the offences and framing charges.