12 March,2025 07:43 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Soundarya
20 years after her demise, renowned actress Soundarya has once again surfaced in the news. It is being alleged that her death was not just an accident but was a murder. A complaint has been filed against actor Mohan Babu, accusing him of being involved in the death of actress Soundarya. The Kannada actor tragically passed away in a private aircraft crash on April 17, 2004, at the age of 31. She was reportedly pregnant at the time of death and her family was unable to recover her body.
Sowmya Sathyanarayana, popularly known as Soundarya was a popular face in Indian cinema. She primarily worked in Telugu cinema but was a well-known face in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema as well. She also shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan in the widely popular 1999 film Sooryavansham.
Born and brought up in Karnataka, Soundarya made her acting debut in the year 1992 with the Kannada film Baa Nanna Preethisu. Her second film Gandharva released in the same year was a hit. She made her Telugu film debut in 1993 with Manavarali Pelli. In her 12-year career, she worked alongside actors like Nagarjuna, Rajinikanth, Venkatesh, Mohanlal, and more.
ALSO READ
'Ammoru, Pavithra Bandham, Doni Saagali, Raja, Sooryavansham, and Dweepa are her best-known films that saw her playing strong female characters
She has received three Nandi Awards, two Karnataka State Film Awards and six Filmfare Awards South. In 2002, she received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film as a producer for the Kannada film Dweepa.
On April 17, 2004, Soundarya boarded a single-engine Cessna 180 from the Jakkur airstrip near Bengaluru in Karnataka. She was on her way to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh to campaign for BJP, the party she had recently joined. She was traveling to Karimnagar with her brother Amarnath, BJP party worker Ramesh Kadam, and pilot Joy Philips. Five minutes after take-off, the flight burst into flames and crashed on the campus of the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the University of Agricultural Sciences. Soundarya was seven months pregnant at the time of her demise.
It had reached a height of 150 feet (46 m), and, before achieving the required rate of climb speed, took a steep left turn, which led to a stall. None of the passengers and crew in the fight could be rescued from the crash. Infact, bodies of all the victims were burnt beyond recognition in the crash.
After the accident, SM Krishna, the then-Karnataka Chief Minister, and Arun Jaitley, the Union Commerce Minister and then-BJP state-in-charge, rushed to Jakkur after the crash. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also expressed sorrow at the demise of Soundarya and other passengers on board.
According to a report by News18 Kannada, a complaint was filed against Mohan Babu which alleged that he pressured Soundarya and her brother to sell six acres of land in Shamshabad's Jalpalli village to him which they refused leading to a rift. After the actor's death, Mohan Babu occupied the land illegally. The complainant, identified as Chittimallu has requested the government to take control of the land and use it for the welfare of orphanages, military families, the police force, or media personnel. The complainant has also sought police protection fearing a threat to their life.
