Telugu choreographer Jani Master arrested in Goa after being charged with POCSO

Telugu choreographer Shaik Jani Basha was arrested by the Cyberabad Special Operations Team (SOT) in Goa on Thursday, September 19, a day after he was charged with Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) in a sexual abuse complaint filed by a 21-year-old. Popularly known as Jani Master, the National Award-winning choreographer was shifted to Hyderabad on the same day. He will be produced before the Hyderabad court soon.
The Narsingi police under Cyberabad commissionerate, booked the choreographer under the POCSO act on Wednesday, September 18. The case was filed against him by a junior choreographer who alleged that she was sexually assaulted multiple times in the last six years by Jani during their outdoor shoots and at her residence. She also submitted a 40-page handwritten document with a detailed description of her ordeal to the Telangana State Commission for Women.
The police added the POCSO clause to the FIR after identifying that Jani allegedly started abusing the woman when she was still a minor, 16 years old.
Nerella Sharada, chairperson of the committee, on Wednesday, told the media that the commission intervened in the matter and issued orders to provide police protection to the complainant.
As per a report published in The Hindu, Sharada said, “The committee has issued orders to provide police protection for the victim and a high-level monitoring committee will also be constituted to investigate such cases in the film industry.” She also talked about the importance of using POCSO in the case and said, “We will take this case very seriously and efforts are made for strict implementation of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act in all workplaces, including the constitution of local and internal committees.”
Jani is a renowned choreographer and has worked in both the Hindi and South Indian film industries. His last hit choreographed song was Aayi Nahi from Stree 2, which starred Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor. The accused is also a close aide of actor and Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister, Pawan Kalyan. However, he has now been reportedly asked to step aside from his duties as a member of Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party following the allegations.
Jani has worked with biggies like Rajinikanth, Thalapathy Vijay, Vijay Deverakonda, Jr NTR, Allu Arjun, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Sara Ali Khan, Prabhudeva, Shahid Kapoor, Ram Charan, Chiranjeevi and Fahadh Faasil, among others. He has not released any statement on the allegations yet.