Murder charges against reality show crew

KOLKATA: A hotel caretaker in West Bengal's Midnapore town, pushed off from the fifth floor of the hotel Saturday by reality show producers and contestants of a TV reality show, died on Tuesday, police said.

"Prasun Adhikari, 23, suffered serious head injuries and was admitted to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata Saturday. He died early Tuesday there," West Midnapore district police superintendent RK Singh said.

He said the body was sent for post-mortem.

"We have brought murder charges under Section 302 (of the Indian Penal Code) against show producers Gautam Jain and Rajiv Mehra and contestant Somnath Roy Chowdhury," Singh added.

Jain, Mehra, and Roy Chowdhury have been in five-day police remand since Saturday.

Adhikari was beaten up and then pushed from the fifth floor of the hotel by Jain, Mehra, Roy Chowdhury and another contestant Romi Nag Chowdhury Saturday after he protested to their night-long alcohol consumption.

Nag Chowdhury, however, fled the hotel immediately after the incident.

The team of "Fatafati", a reality show aired on ETV Bangla, had gone to Midnapore town, about 165 km from here, to shoot for a special episode on Friday.