Hyderabad, November 03: Criminal cases have been registered against veteran actor Krishna and his brother Adi Seshagiri Rao for allegedly cheating a producer more than two decades ago. The producer’s son approached the court which directed the police to register a case against the actor and Padmalaya Studios and investigate the allegations.
According to the police, a financier, Babji, gave Rs 14.5 lakh to the Padmalaya Studios for producing a Telugu film, Mukhyamantri Ela Undal i s tar r ing Krishna in 1988 by the Padmalaya Studios.
Babji, however, died while the film was under production. Babji was a Kurnool-based film financier and owns the Anand theatre there.
Padmalaya Studios is owned by Krishna.
After the financier’s death, Padmalaya Studios changed the film’s title to Rajakiya Chadarangam and released it.
“The producer or the film production house have to take the consent of the financier before releasing the film. Padmalaya Studios allegedly forged the signatures of Babji and released the film,” Central Crime Station (CCS) inspector Venkateshwarlu said.
The film was released through Vijaya Labs, which was then based at Chennai.
Babji’s son, B S S Anand, a minor then, has been fighting a legal battle over the non-payment of the Rs 14.5 lakh extended by his father as finance to the film. Recently, he found that Padmalaya Studios has also sold the television rights of four films financed by Babji.
A week back, the city civil court at Nampally directed the CCS to investigate the matter.
Cases under Section 420 (cheating), 468 (impersonation) and conspiracy were registered against Krishna and his brother Adi Seshagiri Rao and also against the Padmalaya Studios and the Vijaya Labs, the inspector said. Three members of the Vijaya Labs, Ram Mohan Rao, Ravindernath and Gopal Krishna, released the film in 1988.
—Agencies