Hyderabad: Tollywood actor Rana Daggubati, his father Suresh Babu, brother Abhiram and uncle Venkatesh have been booked for cheating and theft in Hyderabad on Saturday, January 11.
The case pertains to the demolition of the Deccan Kitchen Hotel in January 2024. It was demolished despite the Telangana High Court’s direction against it.
Following the gross violation of the High Court’s order, a Nampally civil court ordered a case to be registered against the Daggubati family and directed the Filmnagar police to conduct an investigation.
The First Information Report (FIR) has named producer Daggubati Suresh as accused number one (A1), his brother Daggubati Venkatesh as A2, Suresh’s son and actor Daggubati Rana as A3 and Rana’s brother and producer Daggubati Abhiram as A4.
Following the court’s orders, the police registered an FIR on Saturday under Sections 448, 452, 458 r/w 420 of the Indian Penal Code for trespassing.
Background of the case
The case dates back to 2014 when Pramod Kumar, a businessman, alleged that Rana Daggubati and his family were pressuring him to vacate his land.
According to a complaint lodged by Kumar, the disputed land in Shaikpet was leased out to him in 2014 by Suresh Babu. When the lease ended, Suresh Babu allegedly decided to sell the property to him for Rs 18 crore and a deal was struck.
Kumar claims that while he made a payment of Rs 5 crore towards the deal, Suresh Babu did not bother to complete the sale and registration processes. The complainant alleged that before the matter could be resolved, Suresh Babu transferred the property to his son’s name.
The complainant alleged that despite a pending injunction from the City Civil Court and orders from the Telangana High Court, the accused unlawfully entered the properties and caused damage with the help of anti-social elements.
It was in November 2022 that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had partially demolished the hotel and adjoining structures constructed by Nanda Kumar, one of the accused in the alleged poaching of TRS MLAs, on land taken on lease from the Daggubati family.
Kumar had approached the High Court, which had ordered status quo. In January 2024, the Daggubati family allegedly completely demolished the structure. He had claimed that he suffered a loss of Rs 20 crore due to demolition and vandalism.
The court had ordered police to investigate the matter. The proceedings in the case continued and on Saturday the court issued directions to the police to register a case against the accused.
(With IANS inputs)
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