Accompanied by his family members, actor Akkineni Nagarjuna appeared before the Nampally court on Tuesday, October 9 in connection with the defamation case against Telangana’s Forest and Environment Minister Konda Surekha. The actor was present to record his statements against the Minister. He was accompanied by his wife Amala Akkineni, Naga Chaitanya and Supriya Yarlagadda. 

In his petition, Nagarjuna told the court that Minister Surekha’s remarks had damaged his family’s reputation. “The Minister’s comments were nothing but degrading the dignity of the family,” he said, according to The Hindu.

Nagarjuna accused the Minister of making “derogatory remarks” over  the divorce of his son Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu. He said that the remarks made by the Minister before the media were “false”, “offensive” and “politically motivated” causing immense mental anguish to his family. 

The actor had filed the complaint against Konda Surekha under Section 356 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) last week following her wild speculations about Naga Chaitanya and Samantha. She alleged the involvement of Nagarjuna and Bharat Rashtra Samithi working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) behind the divorce. KTR had issued a separate legal notice asking the Minister to withdraw her defamatory comments failing which he would initiate civil and criminal proceedings. 

Seeking criminal action against Surekha, Nagarjuna told the court that public representatives should be held accountable for their verbal attacks.

According to reports, the statement of Nagarjuna’s niece Yarlagadda Supriya was also recorded as the first witness. A video of the Minister’s comments was also submitted to the court by Nagarjuna’s counsel.

Nagarjuna, who is the son of legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao, told the court that his family has worked hard to build a good reputation through their contributions to Indian cinema and philanthropic activities. 

After recording Nagarjuna’s statement the hearing was adjourned to a later date. Surekha’s derogatory remarks were collectively condemned by the Telugu film industry, who said that they will not remain silent if personal lives of individuals from the fraternity were dragged to make political gains.