Kochi actress assault case: Left ups pressure on police, but Dileep's arrest highly doubtful

For the Malayalam film industry, this is a crisis of unprecedented proportions. That it’s most influential star is just a step away from a likely police arrest and prosecution in a case pertaining to the abduction and rape of a prominent actress comes along as hammer blow to the industry.

With the Communist Party of India–Maxist (CPI-M) making it very clear that the LDF government does have the political will to go for the long haul, the alleged conspiracy behind the case is all but set to come out in the open.

At least the response of some of the cabinet ministers in the Pinarayi Vijayan government has been suggesting that however big the suspects may be the police would not shy away from booking them. 

“This government is with the victim come what may and will get justice for her at all costs. The investigation is moving in the right direction and in two days time, you can expect a big breakthrough in the case,’’ J Mercykutty Amma, a Cabinet Minister in the LDF Government told media persons. 

It is here that Dileep and his close associate and actor Nadir Shah find themselves on a very sticky wicket. 

That even after questioning the duo, along with Dileep’s manager Appunni for 13 long hours at the Aluva Police Club on June 28, the investigating officers had not given them a clean chit, and had no qualms about telling the media about it, goes on to show that the police could very well be taking its time to build up a credible case around the suspects by gathering more evidence.

Perhaps what forced the government to go on a damage control mode to show that it was indeed standing with the victim rather than with the suspected conspirators was the high drama that CPI(M)’s own actors turned lawmakers unleashed during the press briefing called by the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists in Kochi a day after Dileep’s police interrogation.  

Actor Mukesh who is also the CPM MLA from Kollam constituency and KB Ganesh Kumar whose political party is a part of the ruling LDF coalition had openly come out declaring their support for Dileep, ridiculing the media that questioned their stand. The action only put the CPI(M) and the Pinarayi Vijayan government on the back foot.

 While Mukesh was reprimanded openly by Kollam district committee of the party, Ganesh Kumar invited widespread criticism from Left leaders for his adverse remarks. 

If sources inside the government are to be believed, then the police had since then been asked to speed up their investigations and get to the bottom of this case at the earliest. Strong voices had been emanating from the government side too. 

“The government sees this as a chance to cleanse the film world which is criminalised beyond what one can imagine. These actors who are adored by millions should also realise that they have a responsibility towards their fans. The government is committed to doing away with any such criminal elements in the industry,” G Sudhakaran, another powerful Minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet told Asianet Newsable. 

Sudhakaran’s words perhaps reflect that political will that is needed to take such high-profile cases to its right conclusion, unless a complete twist of events happen in the last lap. 

But activists differ 

Meanwhile, activists in the state are taking the politicians conviction with a pinch of salt.

 Most of them have questioned the rationale behind believing that such high profile cases would actually net the big fishes in a state where no such big profile criminal cases have been solved convincingly. 

The Solar scam, TP Chandresekharan murder case, the Total 4U scam and umpteen number of suicides in Mollywood ranging from Vijaysree to Uravshi Shoba, Silk Smitha and Mayoori, nothing has been investigated in the right earnest. 

Undoubtedly the politico-cinema nexus has been too strong for even the most honest officers in the state to break over the years. 

 In 2017 too matters are hardly different as one superstar’s clout and reach up till the Chief Minister’s office, with his own friend and partner in the film world adorning the chair of the media advisor to Vijayan, is very likely to come as major obstacle to any credible outcome to an investigation. 

“Apart from the noise made by the media, I do not think there is anything earth shattering that is going to happen in this case too. As long as the top politicians in the state, which ever party is in power, are hand-in-glove with the superstars as partners in all their shady deals, no investigation will get to the real culprits. After the initial din everything will be stage-managed,” says CR Neelakandan, an anti-corruption activist in the state. 

Women actors who are now raising their voices against the male hegemony with their organisation say that ‘brushing under the carpet’ has been the norm when it comes to the film industry in Kerala. For decades it is this tendency to cling on to the ‘pseudo-moralistic high ground’ created by a section of the male actors is what has made this industry a highly gender insensitive one. 

“We know that this is a highly patriarchal industry where women have to fight hard to make themselves even heard. But this time round we have decided that  we are going to make our voices heard, and that is why we have decided to sue all those actors who have named and insulted the victim again on public platform,’’ says Vidhu Vincent, an award winning director and a pioneer at the Women’s Collective in Cinema (WCC). 

The WCC has already filed a case with the State Women’s Commission against Saji Nanthiyattu who had abused the victim saying,  “the actress was only harassed for 2 hours but for that Dileep has been suffering for four months.’’

The WCC has also promised action against Dileep and Salim Kumar for the latter asking to do a lie detector test on her and the former casting aspersions on the character of the victim by saying that she and the prime accused Sunil Kumar had been friends. 

The clinging evidence 

The Police investigations and the selected leaks emerging from the force are also pointing towards the inevitable for Dileep and his associates. 

Jinson, a petty criminal is now alleged to have been the ‘police spy’ inside the jail. He was used by the cops to track Sunil Kumar to find out whom he was trying to get in touch with from inside the prison as well as to get a first-hand information out of Kumar. 

A senior police officer is saying that Jinson was indeed purposely kept in the small cell that lodged Kumar too to ensure that a close watch is kept on Kumar without the latter realising the trap. 

Jinson in his statement given to the magistrate clearly states that he had heard Kumar talking to Nadir Shah a number of times and even to Dileep on one occasion. He goes on to say that all the conversations were cordial in nature which goes on bust Dileep’s claim that Kumar was only blackmailing him and had initially no idea who the person was. 

By Tuesday evening the CCTV footage from the jail testifying Jinson’s claims had also been retrieved by the police. 
Jinson also goes to say that he had overhead Kumar telling Nadir Shah over the phone that he had left ‘the thing’ at Laksyah. 

Police believe that ‘the thing’ is the memory card that contains the visuals of the actress being attacked sexually and that ‘Laksyah’ refers to shop run by Dileep’s wife and actress Kavya Madhavan based in Kakkanad. This is precisely the reason police had raided the shop and are waiting to question Madhavan and her parents too. 

That the police went to the extent of taking Jinson directly to the magistrate to record his crucial statement under section 164 B, which would make it impossible for him to retrace it in a court of law, only goes on to show that the police certainly means business in the case. 

That he was kept in the same cell as Kumar only goes on to show that the police had strong reasons initially itself to believe that there was indeed a larger conspiracy behind the attack on the actress and that Kumar would contact the co-conspirators from the jail in due course of time.  

Police was perhaps building up the case and the interrogation that happened in Aluva Police Club was only a precursor for bigger things to come. On Tuesday again a detailed meeting had taken place but the police did not divulge details. 

“See I think the police at the moment are in a tricky situation. They have now stumbled upon enough evidence that they would find it very difficult to explain to the civil society in Kerala why they had failed to book Dileep and others. So the arrest is inevitable, but the cops would not want to rush through it considering the profile of the accused they are dealing with and the need to get strong evidence to back up the case in the court,’’ says George Joseph, a retired Superintendent of Police who lead a number of such investigations before.

On Tuesday evening all eyes had been fixed on the Aluva Police Club. As the duration of the meeting grew, speculations were rife that this time round Dileep and Nadir Shah would be called back in the pretext of questioning and then arrested. But nothing happened late into the night. 

With the present uncertainty, one can’t help but get a feeling that this could go either way, especially when this a strong rumour that it was the Chief Minister’s office nudged by one of the two superstars that derailed the actor’s arrest in the first instance on June 28.