Director Ram Gopal Varma seeks more time to appear for probe before Andhra police

Film director Ram Gopal Varma on Tuesday requested Andhra Pradesh police for more time to appear before them for investigation over alleged morphing of images of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and their family members in an "indecent" way, said a police official.

A police team from Prakasam district visited Varma's Jubilee Hills residence in Hyderabad recently and served a notice personally to the director, summoning him for investigation on November 19.

Prakasam district Superintendent of Police A R Damodar said the director did not turn up for the probe today.

"Ram Gopal Varma sent a written representation through his lawyer requesting more time, about four to five days, to appear for the investigation as he is engaged with pre-scheduled movie shooting," Damodar told PTI.

The SP said that Varma expressed his willingness to "cooperate" with the police.

According to the police, Varma sent his lawyer to the local circle inspector.

Damodar said the police will verify the director's request whether it is true or false and then take a call, adding that generally one or two days more time is given.

However, he observed that if the request was found to be false and a ploy to intentionally avoid the probe, then police would not hesitate to send a team after Varma.

A case was booked against the popular director at Maddipadu police station in Prakasam district on November 11 for allegedly posting morphed photographs of Naidu, Kalyan and others on social media.

The case was booked on the basis of a complaint received from one Ramalingam (45) from Maddipadu under various sections.

Ramalingam filed the case as the alleged social media posts reportedly undermined the standing of the CM, Deputy CM and their family members in society and also hurt their personalities.

Police said the time of these alleged offences would emerge in the investigation.