HYDERABAD: The national film award given to choreographer Shaikh Jani Basha, popularly known as Jani Master, has been suspended by the National Film Awards Cell following his arrest in a POCSO case.

The cell also withdrew the invitation extended to him to attend the award ceremony to be held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The suspension letter stated that the invitation to the choreographer was extended before the allegations of crime under the POCSO Act came to light. However, considering the seriousness of the allegation, Jani’s 2022 National Film Award for ‘Best Choreography’ for the film Thiruchitrambalam has been suspended until further notice, the official letter said.

It is to be noted that a court in Rangareddy on Thursday granted four days’ interim bail to Jani from October 6 to 10 so that he could attend the award ceremony.

The choreographer was arrested by Cyberabad police and subsequently lodged in Chanchalguda Central Jail on charges of sexually assaulting a female assistant choreographer and criminally intimidating her when she was a minor. The survivor, now 21, alleged that Jani sexually assaulted her at a hotel during a shoot in Mumbai in 2019.