The Special Investigation Team (SIT) consisting of women IPS officers commenced its probe into allegations of sexual abuse made by Malayalam film actresses against senior artistes like Mukesh, Siddique, Babu Raj, Manian Pilli Raju, Jaayasooorya and movie maker Ranjith (who quit as chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy, the Kerala Government-run institution for holding International Fim Festival of the State) .
Sources in the SIT told The Pioneer that they would ask Mukesh and Ranjith to present themselves before the team for questioning. Bengali film actress Sreelekha Mitra has lodged a complaint against Ranjith by e-mail with the SIT about the harassment meted out to her by the movie maker in 2009.
Minu Muneer, Sonia Malhotra and Revathi Sampath are the other artists who have complained against their male co-artists alleging rape, physical assault and violation of modesty. Muneer said in her complaint that Mukesh, who is a CPI(M) MLA asked her to sleep with him for a positive response to her application for the membership of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), a stepping stone to the filmdom’s welfare programme.
Meanwhile Mukesh accused Muneer of blackmailing him and demanded a lakh of rupees for her silence. There is a complaint filed by Geeth Vijayan, a star of the yesteryears that she was molested by movie makers in 1991.
Minu Muneer alleged to the media that she has been receiving threat calls in her phone and the police had identified that the calls were made from Andhra Pradesh. Though Wednesday was by and large peaceful from the film fraternity, a silent war of nerves is going on among various camps of AMMA. Actor Jagadeesh said that the decision of AMMA office bearers to quit en masse following the disclosures made by the actresses was shocking. “They should have shown courage and presence of mind to tackle the situation,” he told reporters.
Joy Mathew, a Leftist movie artist , demanded strong action by the law enforcing agencies against the perpetrators of the crime. But Shanthivila Dineshan, movie maker with more than three decades of professional experience in the movie industry told The Pioneer that there was noting new in the allegations or disclosures made by the female artists. “They should have resisted the move then and there itself. Had they opposed the move, such incidents would not have happened,” said Dinesh who further stated that these allegations would continue in future too.
A total of 17 cases of rape and molestation have been registered by the SIT till Wednesday 8 PM.
