The Hyderabad Police on Sunday booked prominent Telugu actor Venkatesh Daggubati and three members of his family for the “illegal” demolition of a hotel which they had leased to another person. Besides Venkatesh, police have booked his nephew Rana Daggubati, who played the principal antagonist in the film “Baahubali.” Rana's father Suresh, a film producer, and brother Abhiram, a producer himself, have also been booked.
The action was taken a day after a local court directed the police to file a case against the Daggubatis. The case pertains to the January 2024 demolition by the Daggubati family of their Deccan Kitchen Hotel, which was located in Hyderabad's Film Nagar area.
However, an individual named Nanda Kumar, to whom the property had been leased, approached the court stating that Deccan Kitchen was razed despite an injunction pending from the City Civil Court and against orders from the Telangana high court.Nanda Kumar also claimed he suffered a loss of ₹20 crore due to the demolition. The local court then ordered the police to investigate the matter.Nanda Kumar is an accused in the alleged poaching of MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now the Bharat Rashtra Samithi) in 2022.
Subsequently, in July 2023, the Telangana high court had sought an explanation from GHMC for the action and ordered the Hyderabad civic body to maintain the status quo.