Hyderabad: Software company CEO dies in tragic aerial act at Ramoji Film City

The victim was identified as Sanjay Shah, CEO of Vistex Company and the injured was Vishwanatha Raju, the company’s Chairman.

Hyderabad: In a tragic incident, Sanjay Shah (56), the founder and CEO of Vestex Asia, a global software company died when an alleged aerial act went terribly wrong during the company’s silver jubilee celebrations at Ramoji Film City (RFC) on the city outskirts on Thursday night.

According to the police, the company had scheduled a two-day event at RFC to mark its successful 25 years in the industry. On Thursday evening, at around 7:40 pm, nearly 700 people came together at Lime Light Garden to witness an aerial act, which was billed as the event’s highlight.

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“A specially designed stage made of wood was elevated 20-feet above the concrete stage using a crane. The act involved a 6 mm iron wire with two layers on both sides. Unfortunately, during the performance, one side of the rope snapped without a warning and the stage fell on the people below,” said A.Manmohan, Inspector Abdullapurmet.

The detached structure directly fell on Sanjay Shah and Vishwanath Raj Datla, the president of the company. While Sanjay Shah suffered multiple grievous injuries, Vishwanath Raj suffered a severe head injury.

They were immediately shifted to a private hospital, where Shah succumbed on Friday morning while Vishwanath Raj’s condition continues to remain critical.

Based on a complaint from Janakiram, Executive Director of the company, the Abdullapurmet police booked a case against Usha Kiran Events, the event management authority of Ramoji Film City and took up investigation.