Sangli (Maharashtra): Allu Arjun-starrer ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ has been a rage in India and abroad, and is turning into quite a cult movie.
One the one hand, several celebrities including cricketer David Warner have been impressed by the star actor from the South and tried to imitate his steps and gestures, while the common man is tempted to try his daring acts.
Yaseen Inayatullah, a driver by profession, was arrested by police in Maharashtra as he allegedly tried to smuggle red sandalwood, taking inspiration from the Telegu movie.
He was travelling to Maharashtra when he was nabbed near Meeraj Nagar in Sangli district after crossing the Karnataka-Andhra border, Republic Online reported.
Red sandalwood worth Rs 2.45 crore was seized from the truck.
Allu Arjun, who plays a sandalwood smuggler in Pushpa, is shown loading trucks with sandalwood and camouflaging it with milk cans.
Inayatullah tried a similar trick, placing boxes of fruits and vegetables to cover red sandalwood on the truck. To fool police and authorities at checkposts, he even pasted a sticker of ‘COVID-19 essential products’ on his truck.
He succeeded for some time before running out of luck on crossing the Andhra Pradesh border.
