Actor Shivaji prevented from leaving India

Hyderabad, July 3 (IANS) Telugu actor G. Shivaji, who was booked in Alanda Media case, was on Wednesday stopped from leaving the country at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

The immigration officials alerted the police as the actor was about to fly to the US. The authorities prevented him from boarding the flight, police source said.

The Cyberabad police later issued a notice to him, asking him to appear before investigation offers on July 11 in connection with the case.

The police on April 30 booked Shivaji along with former TV9 CEO Ravi Prakash and CFO M.K.V.N. Murthy for forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy on a complaint filed by Alanda Media & Entertainments Pvt Ltd after the latter acquired majority stakes in Associated Broadcasting Pvt Ltd (ABCPL), the owner of the TV9 group of channels.

In May, the police issued lookout notices against Ravi Prakash and Shivaji, who is said to be a shareholder in the company, after they failed to appear before the police despite being issued several notices. The airports were also alerted to prevent them from fleeing abroad.

Ravi Prakash finally appeared before police on June 5 after the Supreme Court rejected his plea for anticipatory bail.

Cyberabad police had booked two cases against them on two complaints by Alanda Media Additional Director P. Kaushik Rao. They were charged with forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The cases were a fallout of Ravi Prakash's rift with Alanda after it acquired majority shares in ABCPL in August 2018 and nominated four persons to be appointed as directors on the board.

Alanda Media alleged Ravi Prakash and others tried to prevent new directors from taking over.