Balakrishna: Trouble brews

Hyderabad, June 7: N.T. Rama Rao’s actor-son . Balakrishna was shifted to Nizams Institute of Medical Specialities today for examination by government doctors.

Balakrishna was this morning produced before fifth metropolitan magistrate M.P. Gandhi, who directed that NIMS specialists thoroughly examine the actor for all ailments he claims he is suffering from.

Balakrishna had told the court he has had a nervous breakdown. He also claimed that he has paralysis in his limbs and there is minor clotting in the lungs.

The magistrate directed that the actor be kept at NIMS if examinations proved his ailments correct, “or else he should be immediately shifted to the central jail at Cherlapalli on the outskirts of Secunderabad”.

NIMS said today that Balakrishna would be kept under observation till at least tomorrow afternoon.

The actor was earlier produced before the court yesterday and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days over Thursday’s shootout. Film producer B. Suresh and assistant producer Satyanarayana Chowdhary were hurt and hospitalised.

On Saturday, the actor had refused to be admitted to NIMS or any other government hospital and was sent back on medical grounds to CARE hospital, where he has been lodged since the brawl.

Four key persons in the case who were absconding have been taken into custody. Police are interrogating K.P. Chowdhary, Balu, Shiva Reddy and Ramakrishna. They are either witnesses to the brawl or allegedly helped drop victims at the hospital and clean up the office room at Balakrishna’s house where the incident occurred.

The police’s handling of the episode, however, has come under fire. Bureaucrats claimed Balakrishna’s arrest was delayed till Saturday night so that the Telugu Desam Party could not take political advantage in the Assembly. The arrest process picked up pace only after the Assembly was adjourned sine die late on Saturday.

The private hospital where the actor is lodged has also come under a cloud. “Almost everyone entered and met Balakrishna for three days. But only police kept saying he was under sedation and could not record his statement,” a source said.

NTR’s widow Lakshmi Parvati who met the actor on Saturday morning told reporters she spoke to him for over 20 minutes.

Balakrishna today told the court he shot at his detractors in self-defence. “We are examining that factor also. Only the statements by the victims, Suresh and (Satyanarayana) Chowdhary, can throw light on that factor,” city police commissioner R.P. Singh said.

According to police sources, all three were drunk and had spent over 90 minutes together before the altercation.

An unofficial source said Satyanarayana told the police that Suresh attacked the actor first with a paper knife and then a liquor bottle. “Then the actor shot at him and I was injured when I tried to intervene,” Satyanarayana reportedly said.

Public reaction to the incident has been lukewarm. Other than hired fans who thronged the private hospital, there was no reaction from filmgoers.