Drone technician of ‘Cult’ movie team attempts suicide, director gets police notice

BENGALURU: A complaint has been filed against actor Zaid Khan, son of Minister Zameer Ahmed, and the crew of the film ‘Cult’ at the Magadi police station, alleging that they were responsible for the attempted suicide by Santosh, a drone technician who worked with the film crew.

Santosh had invested Rs 25 lakh to buy a drone for the film shoot, but the crew damaged it during filming and refused to compensate him. Santosh was charging Rs 25,000 per day for his work.

Santosh, who had worked on several films, including ‘Martin’ and ‘Yuva’, had agreed to shoot for the film ‘Cult’. It is said that the director insisted that the film should be shot even though he was warned that shooting with a drone was risky. During the shooting, the drone touched a windmill and broke into pieces.

After this, the film crew did not compensate Santosh for the loss. Santosh then approached Zaid who is producing the movie, to provide compensation. However, Zaid got Santosh to sign a blank paper and also forcibly took a memory card worth Rs 1.5 lakh. He also took down Santosh’s Aadhaar card number and insulted him, according to the complaint.

Despite his requests, the crew, including Zaid Khan, allegedly humiliated and harassed him, leading him to attempt suicide by hanging himself from a fan at home, the complaint stated.

The police have issued a notice to the film’s director Anil in connection with the incident. The incident has sparked outrage with many accusing the film’s crew of negligence and harassment.

Following the incident, Santosh’s sister went to to the Magadi Road police station file a complaint. However, it is alleged that the police sent her back without accepting the complaint. Later, an NCR was registered on the hospital’s memo. The police, alerted immediately, contacted the ‘Cult’ film crew. A notice has been issued to the film director regarding the incident.

The police are investigating the incident and have promised to take action against those responsible.