Yashaswani Chauhan, Pune
Actor Nagarjuna Akkineni, a Telugu actor, has lodged a complaint against Telangana Minister Konda Surekha for defamation over scandalous remarks about his son Naga Chaitanya’s divorce from Pretty Samatha actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
Stating his case on October 3, 2024, Nagarjuna filed in the Hyderabad court for action under Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which is defamation. The complaint was lodged after Surekha made some more comments regarding the influence of the high profile divorce to BRS working president K T Rama Rao (KTR). As per the actor himself, all these remarks were false and made with a purpose to mud sling his family.
The remarks were made by Raghava at Gandhi Jayanthi on Bapughat in Langer Houz. Speaking to the media, the minister fired the starting shot and his utterances received a lot of air-time on TV and radio as well as newspaper editorialization. Nagarjuna said that after the minister’s statement, most of his friends, relatives, fans and people in general were contacting him through phone calls and messages seeking for clarification on the matter.
In the plea before the court, the actor stressed that the defamatory statements were painful and so emotional to him and his entire family. Two people named Yarlagadda Supriya and Metla Venkateshwar were given as those who called him with the information about the allegations. Nagarjuna then said to them, there is no truth in the reports that have been said and done, they are only a strategy to embarrass the family.
The actor said that the comment influenced himself and others hence came out on his X handles (formerly Twitter) to condemn the allegations. He also demanded that the minister should withdraw the false statements within 24hours.
In his earlier legal notices, Nagarjuna posted links to some of the media articles about Konda Surekha comments. He has asked the court to order the Langer Houz police force to handle the case and lay charges against the minister.
The Telugu film fraternity has begun supporting Nagarjuna’s decision to file a defamation case against the channel by extending support through celebrities. The case has raised controversy involving political leaders with celebrity’s privacy and the use of names of celebrities in political vendetting.