Supreme Court Grants Interim Relief To Actor Mohan Babu In Journalist Assault Case

The Supreme Court, in an interim order passed on Thursday, ordered that no coercive action will be taken against veteran Tollywood actor Manchu Mohan Babu, who was booked under attempt to murder charges for allegedly attacking a television journalist at his residence on December 10.

Fuming over a reporter of a news channel asking him about the ongoing dispute with his actor son Manchu Manoj, Mohan Babu, a former MP, snatched the mike and attacked him with it while using abusive words.

Issuing notice on Mohan Babu's plea challenging the December 23 decision of Telangana High Court, which had dismissed his application for anticipatory bail, a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and P.K. Mishra directed the Rachakonda police to not take any coercive action against the petitioner.

As senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing on Mohan Babu's behalf, submitted that the actor had apologised for the incident and was ready to compensate the injured journalist, the Justice Dhulia-led Bench asked the complainant's counsel to seek instruction if he wanted compensation.

The matter will be heard after four weeks.

The former Member of Parliament had moved the Telangana High Court for anticipatory bail on health grounds, saying that he was suffering from health problems related to heart and nerves. However, his plea for pre-arrest bail was turned down by it.

In his complaint, M. Satyanarayana, a reporter for Telangana news channel TV9, stated that when Manchu Manoj and some journalists went into the house at his invitation, Mohan Babu confronted them aggressively, used abusive and foul language, grabbed the mike and attacked the journalist with it, resulting in severe head injury.

The incident occurred when Manchu Manoj broke the gate to enter the house after an argument with the bouncers deployed there.

Along with Manoj and his private security men, some journalists also entered the house. When the television reporter asked Mohan Babu a question about the dispute with his son, he got enraged, grabbed the mike and attacked the reporter with it.

The journalist collapsed and the bouncers drove all the journalists out of the house. The injured reporter was admitted to a hospital in Shamshabad. According to doctors, the journalist has suffered three fractures in the zygomatic bone (cheekbone) and needs plastic surgery.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)