Director Pa Ranjith and three others have reportedly been booked by the Keelaiyur police for their connection with the death of stuntman SM Raju on their film. For the unversed, Raju died while performing a car stunt, which went fatally wrong on Ranjith’s set during the shooting of the film Vettuvan with Arya in the Nagapattinam district.
Pa Ranjith and others booked for stuntman SM Raju’s death
According to a report by The Hindu, the director and three others have been booked on charges of negligent conduct, abetment of an offence and culpable homicide. The shoot was reportedly organised by Neelam Productions. Initially, a case was registered against Ranjith, along with the stunt choreographer Rajkamal, Neelam Productions and Prabhakaran under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act.
Following the accident, Raju was rushed to the Nagapattinam Government Medical College Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. His body has been handed over to the family following a postmortem. After investigating the evidence, the police have now revised the case against the film’s team and booked them under Sections 289 (Negligent conduct), 125 (Abetment of an offence), and 106(1) (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the BNS Act.
Celebrities mourn Raju`s death
Several celebrities posted condolences and repressed their grief over the sudden death. On Monday, Prithviraj Sukumaran took to his Instagram stories to mourn the death, saying, “Rest in peace Raju! So many moments of magic that would have been impossible to film without your skill and guts. You will be missed forever.”
Actor Vishal was among the first one`s to mourn the stuntman’s death, writing on X (formerly Twitter), “So difficult to digest the fact that stunt artist Raju passed away while doing a car toppling sequence for Jammy (@arya_offl) and @beemji Ranjith`s film this morning. I have known Raju for so many years, and he has performed so many risky stunts in my films time and again. He was such a brave person. My deepest condolences and may his soul rest in peace.”
Stunt choreographer Silva also mourned Raju`s death on saying, saying, “One of our great car jumping stunt artist, S M Raju, died today while doing car stunts. Our stunt union and the Indian film industry will be missing him.”
