Daijiworld Media Network - Raichur (MS)

Raichur, Oct 27: Pooja Gandhi, renowned Kannada actress, was shown that celebrity status will not help when it comes to attending a court hearing. The actor was made to wait for more than 6 hours without even permitting her to go for lunch.

Pooja came late to attend the hearing on a FIR that was filed against her over the alleged violation of the model code of conduct as she had contested the legislative assembly election from Raichur on the BSR Congress ticket in 2013. A non-bailable warrant against her was issued by the Judicial Magistrate First Class-2 (JMFC), Poornima Yadav, in the first week of August after she failed to appear for five hearings.

Though the actor was picked up from Bengaluru by the Raichur police, she did not make it on time to the court for the hearing. This exasperated the judge, who not only made her wait from 11am to 5.30 pm but also granted bail only on a bond of Rs.50000 and two sureties.

In addition, the judge strictly ordered the actor to attend all the future hearings without fail. As per the statement given by her lawyer, Nagaraja Naik, the next hearing on this case will be on November 3. So far Pooja has attended eight court hearings since the case was registered.

The actor was not available for comments to the media who were eagerly waiting at the court the whole day.

Earlier in an issue pertaining to the same case, a constable was reprimanded by the judge for lying to the court that the actor was "not available", when he was sent to Bengaluru to serve the summons to the actor. The constable was caught lying as he posted his selfie with the actor on Facebook.