Runaway bride puts Hyd elite on high alert

Children of the rich and famous in the city feel the heat after Chiranjeevi’s daughter elopes

HYDERABAD: It would have been the ideal film script except that nobody is in a mood to oblige.

Last week’s elopement by Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi’s daughter Srija has set the film industry and the elite of Hyderabad on alert to the likely dangers from their rebellious offspring. The star, though, said that all was forgiven and extended his blessings to the young couple.  

As Hyderabad woke up to the news of Srija’s wedding, movie tycoons as well as real estate and corporate groups virtually clamped the shutters on the freedom of their kith and kin. The measures that have come in to force in the wake of the incident include a 24x7 watch on their movements, investigations by private agencies into the background of their friends, discreet surveillance of eating and watering holes, armed escorts to teens and finally house arrests too.

“My parents have cancelled my trip to Bangkok and instead want me to spend my holidays with my aunt at Kolkata”, cribs a scion of a powerful Reddy clan in Hyderabad.  The head of a private security agency, who did not want to be named, says he has signed up overnight 12 new clients who not only want their wards “watched” but also to enquire into the backgrounds of people they met and hung around with.

The sense of insecurity is felt more among the children of film personalities and most of them have decided to keep their business activities away from home. “I have opted for this so that my family is not in contact with industry personalities except during special occasions which are by invitation only,” says Mohan Babu, a prominent film star who had had problems when his daughter eloped with the son of a prominent doctor from Vijayawada braving threats and use of force. 

Film producers, directors and financiers in the city have tightened security arrangements and cut short holiday trips of their children. They have now sent them to closely guarded resorts and bungalows around the city where their contact with “friends” and associates is restricted.  

The city police have also been considering a special cell to keep a tab on children of VIPS and VVIPS as a matter of routine exercise.

“Very often, we have found trouble with the children of IAS, IPS officials in pubs and restaurants and some molestation cases,” says a senior official in the CID.

Hyderabad is home to nearly 1,275 powerful families of industrialists, politicians and settlers from West Bengal, UP and Delhi. There are 27 private security agencies of which seven specialise in personal security for children of the rich and famous.  

“We cannot disclose the identity of our clients except to say that personal protection services are growing in Hyderabad and estimated at Rs 1.35 crore annually,” says the proprietor of one of these. Services of such agencies are offered only on reference by another client.