Radhika Sarathkumar, a highly respected movie artist in South India, dropped a bombshell on Saturday by accusing some of the leading stars of the Malayalam film industry of making nude visuals of female artists with hidden cameras and blackmailing them later.

Speaking to the media, Radhika, who is married to Tamil superstar Sarath Kumar and is daughter of the iconic Tamil actor M R Radha, said that she has seen the these film stars videographing nude visuals with hidden cameras in the caravans hired for exclusive use by the female artists.

“It is done while the artists change their costumes or use the washrooms. I saw this with my own eyes and ever since stopped using the caravans. Though I alerted the director and other crew members, nothing happened. Malayalam film industry is not safe for female artists,” said Radhika.

The revelations by the actress come in the wake of the #Me Too movement getting intensified after the release of the Justice K Hema Committee report about the murky happenings in Malayalam film industry. The committee was appointed by the CPI (M)-led Government in 2017 following reports of sexual harassment suffered by female film artists.

It may be recalled that a leading actress of Malayalam films was kidnapped by gangsters led by Pulsor Suni and raped as per the directive of reigning superstar Dileep.

Since Dileep was busy raping other artists, he had outsourced the sexual abuse job to Sunil. Dileep was arrested by the Kerala Police and remained behind bars for three months before managing to get bail and come out of jail.

The disclosures by some of the female artists in the wake of the release of Hema Committee report has seen the police registering nearly 20 cases against actors including Siddique, Mukesh, a CPM legislator, Jayasoorya, Edavela Babu and Babu Raj. Interestingly, Siddique and Babu Raj were elected as general secretary and vice president of AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Actors) last month. Both have quit following the allegations.

Meanwhile, Mohan Lal, who was the president of AMMA till last week broke his silence when he met the Press on Saturday and asked the journalists not to bay for the blood of some of the artists on the basis of isolated allegations. “Since I was busy fulfilling certain commitments, I could not meet you people earlier. I myself have appeared before the Hema Committee, which had asked me for some details. What I feel is that all should sit together, discuss the findings of the Hema Committee and present our version of the story to the Chief Minister and the civil society,” said Lal while answering queries by a hostile media.