Naagarjuna Actors Shruti Ulfat & Pearl V Puri Clarify Rumours; Say They Were Not Arrested!

It has to be recalled that Naagarjuna - Ek Yoddha actress Shruti Ulfat had posed with a Cobra and had shared the video on her social networking site. This got her into trouble as there were reports of complaints being lodged by several animal activists after the video (which looked like a promotion for the show) went viral.

It was even said that Shurti, Pearl V Puri and the two production managers (for recording the video) were arrested. It has to be recalled that cobra is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Under this act, it is offensive to use a live cobra for shooting or even sharing pictures with it!

Apparently, the accused had claimed that the cobra was Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI). But, the department arrested the four accused, after the report of the Kalina forensic lab suggested otherwise! Now, the actors rubbished the reports of being arrested and say that they were going to the forest station to give their statements.

Shruti was quoted by India-Forums as saying, "We are not arrested; it so happened that we posted a picture with Cobra during our Nagarjuna shoot.

She further added, "I was not aware that time that it's illegal to post an image like that. Otherwise, why will I do such a thing and get into a hassle unnecessarily! We are going to forest station for our statements and it has been 4 months already."

Peal V Puri too, echoed the same, "Firstly, we were not arrested, we just went to forest station. It so happened that when Nagarjuna completed 100 episodes, a Cobra was brought on the set by Cobra catcher and we posed with it for a picture. We went only for giving the statements."