Tollywood actor Sivaji, accused of conspiring with former CEO of TV9 Ravi Prakash by creating bogus documents of acquiring TV9's shares was detained at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad on Wednesday morning.
The actor was leaving to the US to reportedly attend a cultural programme. However, as a ‘look out’ notice was issued against him, the authorities at the airport detained him and handed him over to the Cyberabad police. Subsequently, the Cyberabad’s Cyber Crime police who are investigating the case took the actor into custody, questioning him for nearly two hours before letting him go.
According to reports, the actor was told to appear before the police on July 11 for further investigation.
Sivaji is accused of being a co-conspirator along with Ravi Prakash for allegedly fraudulently acquiring 40,000 shares of TV9. A complaint against him and Ravi Prakash was filed by Alanda Media and Entertainments Pvt. Ltd.--who presently own TV9 media group.
The Cyberabad police had summoned the actor three times in the past few months. However, Sivaji had failed to turn up. Having ignored the summons, the police issued a ‘look out’ notice so that he doesn’t flee the country. Meanwhile, he had approached the Telangana High Court seeking the court to quash the FIR against him.
Sivaji told the court that he had paid Rs 20 lakh to Ravi Prakash in February 2018 and purchased 40,000 shares. Police suspect that Sivaji was planted by Ravi Prakash to stall the change in the management, which became a bone of contention, and finally resulted in Ravi Prakash being sacked as the CEO of TV9.
On June 26, the High Court directed the police to not take any coercive action against him till July 9. The Court had earlier issued an interim stay against his arrest.