FIR Against National Award-Winning Choreographer, Accused Of Raping Colleague

Hyderabad: Amid the renewed #MeToo wave in the southern film industry, another serious charge of a celebrity committing a crime against women has surfaced.

Jani Master, who recently won the National Award for Best Choreographer, has been accused of raping a female colleague.

Jani has been booked by Cyberabad Police here for allegedly sexually assaulting a 21-year-old dancer, who has been working with him for a number of years.

The complaint, filed at Raidurgam police station, was later transferred to the Narsingi police station in Rangareddy district due to jurisdictional reasons.

The dancer alleged that Jani assaulted her multiple times during their various shoots across the country. She complained that Jani used force to sexually assault her and threatened her with severe consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone.

“We have registered a case against Jani Master under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Sunday night, and an investigation has begun,” said G Hari Krishna Reddy, Station House Officer (SHO) of Narsingi PS.

An FIR has been registered under Section 376 of IPC, which deals with rape.

Popular Tollywood dance master Jani Master, whose real name is Shaik Jani Basha, is known for his work in recent hit films like ‘Jailer’, ‘Stree 2’ and ‘Double iSmart’.

Jani bagged the National Award for Best Choreographer for the song ‘Megham Karigenu’ from Tamil dubbed movie ‘Thiru’ starring Dhanush, Nithya Menen and Raashi Khanna.