Police have registered cases against actors Edavela Babu and Sudheesh for allegedly misbehaving with a junior artist. In a separate case, director Shrikumar Menon was booked under IPC Section 354 for misbehaving with another junior artist.
Kozhikode: A police case has been registered against actors Edavela Babu and Sudheesh based on a complaint filed by a junior artist. The complaint alleges that Edavela Babu demanded sexual favours for membership in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), while Sudheesh spoke to her in a bad manner.
In a separate incident, director Shrikumar Menon has been booked by the Marad police under IPC Section 354 for allegedly misbehaving with another junior artist. The complainant alleged that Menon called her to a hotel in Kochi under the pretext of acting in an advertisement and misbehaved with her.
The cases have been handed over to a special investigation team. Another junior artist had also filed a complaint against actor Baburaj. Meanwhile, a second case of sexual assault has been filed against film director Ranjith, based on a complaint from a Kozhikode native man. The Kozhikode Kasaba police have registered the case under charges of sexual assault.
The complainant alleged that Ranjith assaulted him in Bengaluru in 2012. According to him, he met the director during a film shoot in Kozhikode, where he was seeking opportunities in the film industry. Ranjith allegedly asked him to come to a hotel room, where he provided a phone number on a tissue paper and requested him to send a message.
The said individual was then asked to come to the Taj Hotel in Bengaluru two days later. Upon arriving at the hotel around 10 PM, he was directed to enter through the back gate to reach the room. Once inside, he was allegedly forced to drink alcohol and subsequently stripped and assaulted.
This is the second case of sexual assault filed against Ranjith, with a previous complaint filed by a Bengali actress leading to a police case. The victim gave his statement to a special investigation team set up to investigate complaints in the film industry.