Chiranjeevi's brother hands over revolver to police

Hyderabad, Oct 22 (IANS) In yet another dramatic twist to the elopement and marriage of Telugu megastar Chrianjeevi's daughter with her lover, the actor's younger brother Monday surrendered his licensed revolver to the police.

Pavan, who is also a popular Telugu actor, surrendered his weapon at the Jubilee Hills police station to make it clear that there was no threat to Chiranjeevi's daughter Sirija and her husband Sirish Bharadwaj from the family.

'My brother's daughter ran away and married the boy without telling us. It hurt my brother and the entire family. It is okay to run away but she told journalists that they faced threats to their lives from us. I am surrendering the weapon to tell her that we are not after their lives,' the actor said.

Pavan surrendered the weapon following reports that the couple, who have remained untraceable since their secret marriage here on Oct 17, faced threats from Chiranjeevi's family and his fans.

'We don't have hired goondas. We only have fans who love us and they don't resort to such acts,' said Pavan.

Denying that he was an emotional and angry man like his screen image, Pavan said if he wanted he could have harmed Sirish because he had information that the couple was running away.

'But we don't want to harm them. If their love is true nobody can harm them. We only want to wish them a happy married life,' said the actor.

He added that Sirija's action had hurt the family and his sister-in-law has fallen ill due to the shock. 'We knew of the love affair for four months but did not know that she would do this,' he said.

Pavan also denied that the family was misusing the police to target the couple. 'Police have many things to do than just chasing the couple,' he said.

Chiranjeevi has already reconciled himself to the marriage and blessed his daughter. In a statement Saturday, he said he wished the couple a happy married life.

Sirish's father Venkatramna Murthy, a lawyer, says his son has not contacted him since the wedding at an Arya Samaj temple. Murthy added that he is also afraid of Chiranjeevi's fans.

The police have alleged that Sirish was arrested in 2002 for kidnapping a minor girl but the girl's parents later refused to pursue the case.