RGV's Murder release in trouble: Make only after Pranay case is completed, says Telangana court

The Nalgonda special court for SC, ST has finally put a break to controversial filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma and directed him not to make and release the movie Murder till the probe into the case which it is based on is completed.

A 24-year-old Dalit guy named Pranay was hacked to death by hired killers in public in Miryalaguda on September 14, 2018. The murder was caught on CCTV camera. His wife Amrutha belonged to an upper caste and her father Maruthi Rao was were arrested in connection with the case. He had struck Rs-1-crore deal to kill Pranay and he allegedly committed suicide in March in Hyderabad.

Soon after this murder, Ram Gopal Varma had announced to do a film on the incident. He released the first look of the movie titled Murder in June 2020 and announced to release it soon. Amrutha and P Balaswamy, the father of Pranay Kumar filed a petition at the special court for SC, ST cases in Nalgonda, seeking help to stop Ram Gopal Varma from making and releasing the film.

Srikanth Iyengar and Sahithi are playing the lead roles in Murder which is being made on the banners of Nattis Entertainment. In his petition, Balaswamy had alleged that photos of Pranay and his daughter-in-law Amrutha were used without their consent. The court passed the interim orders on a petition in July and directed the police in Miryalguda town to file a case against Ram Gopal Varma and Natti Karuna.

Ram Gopal Varma and Natti Karuna were booked under 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 the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act. The Telangana court on Monday restrained them from making and releasing the film Murder till the completion of probe into the incident of honour killing on which the film is based.

Pranay's father, P Balaswamy spoke to Hyderabad Times after the judgement and said, "Ram Gopal Varma has brought a lot of grief to our family by announcing this film and going ahead with it despite our objection. I'm happy with the court's decision to halt the film's release until further notice and I hope RGV will have the decency to refrain from using my son's tragedy for his commercial gains."