Sandalwood drug racket: Lankesh apologises to Meghana Raj over remarks on Chiranjeevi Sarja

Team Udayavani, Sep 5, 2020, 7:36 PM IST

Bengaluru: Kannada film producer Indrajit Lankesh has tendered an apology to actress and wife of late actor Chiranjeevi Sarja, Meghana Raj over his remarks about the actor’s death.

In the midst of the drug racket case in Sandalwood, Lankesh in a controversial statement had said that a post mortem should have been done in Chiranjeevi’s case to ascertain the cause of death. His remark raised suspicions that Sarja might have had drug links.

Meghana had written a letter to Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce seeking an apology from Lankesh for bringing disrepute to Chiranjeevi Sarja’s name.

On Saturday, Lankesh arrived at KFCC office and apologised to Meghna and the late actor’s family for his remarks.

“I apologise to Meghana Raj and her family if I have hurt them with my words. I withdraw my remarks,” said Lankesh.

Clarifying his earlier statement, Lankesh said, “I did not mean to say Chiranjeevi Sarja had drug links. I had only stated that when a young actor dies at 37, a postmortem had to be conducted. I had taken back my words immediately after Mr Sa Ra Govindu told me that Sarja’s family have been deeply anguished by my remarks,” said Lankesh.