Controversy's favourite child Ram Gopal Varma has made the headlines again for yet another controversy. The veteran director along with producer Natti Karuna are booked in case for promoting enmity between caste groups. Ram Gopal Varma’s recent film Murder which was released on his own website is apparently based on an inter-caste marriage killing incident. P Balaswamy, the father of Dalit youth Pranay Kumar who lost his life in the incident, has filed a case against Ram Gopal Varma and Natti Karuna misrepresentation an ongoing trail of his son’s murder case. Balaswamy filed a complaint at the Miryalaguda Town-I police station in Telangana on Saturday, July 4th. Pranay was murdered in 2018 by his father-in-law Maruthi Rao, who had refused to accept his marriage with his daughter, Amrutha. 23 years old Pranay and 20 years old Amrutha got married on 30th of January 2018, against the girl’s parents’ wish. On 14 September 2018, Pranay and Amrutha were exiting a hospital in Miryalaguda, Nalgonda, after a routine pre-natal check-up when a contract killer allegedly hired by Amrutha’s father attacked Pranay with a machete. He died on the spot. Amrutha who was five months pregnant, witnessed the murder, as did Pranay’s mother Premlata. Amrutha’s father Rao had allegedly hired the assailant for Rs 1 crore. This case made a huge impact and controversy when the incident happened. The case against Amrutha’s father Maruthi Rao is still ongoing and Pranay’s father P Balaswamy feels, Ram Gopal Varma’s Murder movie is a misrepresentation of the incident and could create enmity between two castes. 
 
Ram Gopal Varma and the producer were booked under section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other sections of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act. Ram Gopal Varma announced last month that he was making a film based on the story of Maruthi Rao and his daughter -On the occasion of Father's Day, I am launching the first look poster of a film based on the tragic story of Amrutha and her over loving father Maruthi Rao. This is going to be a heart-wrenching story based on the Amrutha and Maruthi Rao saga of the dangers of a father loving a daughter too much. 
 
With regards to this case, Ram Gopal Varma has now issued a statement in his defence saying that Murder is only based on real life incident and not true story. He also emphasized that he has not mentioned about any castes in the film - “With regard to media speculations on the case filed on my film MURDER ,I once again want to reiterate that my film is based and inspired from a true incident and it is not the truth ..Also there’s no mention of anyone’s caste in the film. Our advocates will give an appropriate reply as required by law. I specifically mentioned that I have no intention to demean or degrade anyone and my film is just a creative work based on a subject which is in the public domain ..But as a citizen who respects the law i too will proceed legally to protect my fundamental rights.”