Why would I apologise to Charan? For getting beaten up?

I was on my way from Kondapur to Dilsukhnagar, along with a friend. We reached the crossroads at Taj Krishna from where we wanted to head towards Eenadu office. There was a lot of traffic, so we had to slow down. Soon, we heard incessant honking from a car that was behind us. We couldn't really give way because there was a heavy flow of vehicles. But the honking wouldn't stop. At that point, I didn't even know whose car it was. When there was finally some space to move, the car drove past us and I saw that it had Ram Charan Tej at the wheel and there was a lady beside him. He overtook us, stepped down from his car and began yelling at us. I too got down from my car and tried to explain to him that we were not at fault. But instead of listening to what I was saying, he started hurling abuses at me. He said something like, 'Why are you driving here now, you should be driving at night...!' He made no sense. I tried to reason with him, and asked him why was he abusing me when I was not at fault — after all, I did not stop his car deliberately. But when the abuses and cuss words refused to stop, I too lost my cool and used abusive language.

Immediately, he got inside his car, took it towards the right and stopped it in the middle of the road, right in front of our car. (he basically wanted to keep me there till his men arrived.) I had no place to move. I went towards his car again, and tried to ask him why was he blocking my way, but he refused to roll down his window. I could see him make phone calls.

I went back to the car and waited for a few minutes as I didn't want to get into an argument with him again. Ram Charan didn't budge. soon, there was a huge traffic jam. I told my friend, 'Let's just reverse the car and get out of here, there's no point getting into any more arguments.' But there was no space to reverse either. I got down from the car again and this time, Charan too got down. but even before I could understand what was happening, I saw four men in safari suits run towards me with walkie-talkies in hand. Before I had a chance to react, they started beating me up. I was alone against a bunch of burly men, and I couldn't do anything. They punched me, beat me up and even tore my shirt. Seeing this, my friend ran to my rescue, but the men started beating him up too.

I saw Charan standing and watching even as two men escorted him to his car. I ran towards his car and at one point, stood in front of his car. I wanted to ask him why is he doing all this? What was our fault? And why has he stopped his car in the middle of the road bringing the traffic to a complete halt? But on seeing me, he started stepping on the accelerator, threatening to mow me down. I felt helpless. I saw my friend being beaten up so I rushed to help him. After some time, Ram Charan's car zoomed off. Soon, the men who were beating us up stopped as well, and they too left the scene.

Some media personnel had gathered at the site by this time, I told them my side of the story. I was angry because I wasn't at fault and decided to lodge a complaint. We went to the Panjugutta PS, where we were told that the spot of incident falls under the jurisdiction of the Banjara Hills PS. So we headed there.

I went inside the police station with full intention of lodging a complaint. I related the incident to the police and they heard us out. They asked me to give the complaint in writing. By then, I had already started getting calls from my worried family members. They said that nothing would be done to Ram Charan or his bodyguards even if I filed a complaint. I realised that they were right. I am just an ordinary, middle-class, family man and an employee of a private company. Why will anything be done for me? Ram Charan is a star, son of a Union minister and has money and power. I will end up doing the rounds of police stations and courts, but even after that nothing will happen to this case. It will be forgotten. How many old cases involving the common man and celebrities have been resolved in this country? When has action been taken against any celebrity? I had to think of my family and my career. So I decided not to lodge a complaint.

But, I wrote down the entire episode and ended the application with a paragraph that said I did not wish to take this case further. Did the cops dissuade me from filing a complaint? Well, they did ensure that I gave it in writing that I had no complaints against anybody.

Ever since the incident, my phone has not stopped ringing. I even read that some political parties are demanding that a case be registered against Ram Charan. But nobody is understanding, that I am just a middle-class man. I have no power to fight with bigwigs like these. And for the record, I did not apologise to Ram Charan. Why would I? For getting beaten up?

Written By Rupam Jain for TimesOfIndia

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