Pushpa Producer Ravi Shankar Denies Allu Arjun's Involvement In Jani Master Sexual Assault Case: 'Unnecessarily Dragged'

Dance choreographer Jani Master, aka Shaik Jani Basha, was recently arrested in Goa by the Cyberbad police in connection with a sexual assault case filed by his former employee. Pushpa producer Ravi Shankar was questioned regarding Allu Arjun's involvement in the case.

At the success meet of the film Mathu Vadhalara 2, Ravi defended Allu Arjun and said that he is being dragged unnecessarily in the controversy. "Hero (Allu Arjun) isn’t bothered about who’s on set other than wishing them good morning and following the steps he’s given. He has unnecessarily been dragged into it. For his stature, why will he stop someone from working or promote someone else? We are all only professionally aligned to both of them," he added.

Further, talking about Jani's sexual assault case, Ravi said whatever has happened between Jani and the girl is 'personal' to them. "She was hired long back as an additional choreographer for our film and will remain throughout the filmmaking process. Jani Master was supposed to choreograph a special number for Pushpa 2 but this happened two days before we planned it," stated the producer.

Jani Master has choreographed the hit song Srivalli from Allu Arjun's film, Pushpa: The Rise, which starred Rashmika Mandanna in the lead.

According to the police, Jani admitted to sexually assaulting his colleague after police arrested him. Reportedly he did not just rape her multiple times over the six years but also tried to manipulate her into converting to his religion and marrying him.

Jani is already married to a woman named Ayesha, who is a classical dancer. The couple also has two children, a son and a daughter.