Thiruvananthapuram: Two days after the formation of the Special Investigation Team, more women are coming forward to file complaint on sexual assault in the Malayalam film industry. Minu Muneer who acted with popular actors in numerous movies lodged a complaint against seven including actors Jayasurya, Maniyanpilla Raju, Edavela Babu and Mukesh on Tuesday. She filed the complaint via email after holding talks with SP G Poonkuzhali. Adv V S Chandrasekharan, production controllers Noble and Vichu are the other three named in her complaint.
The Special Investigation Team formed to probe the sexual assault allegations in the Malayalam film industry will convene a meeting on Tuesday at 11 am to discuss their action plan. The seven-member team is expected to reach the woman who raised sexual abuse and casting couch allegations against filmmaker Ranjith, actors Siddique, Jayasurya, Mukesh, Maniyanpilla Raju and Edavela Babu. Manorama News reported that the SIT would publish the phone numbers of the women officials in the team for receiving the complaints.
The SIT headed by Crime Branch ADGP H Venkatesh include DIG S Ajeetha Begum, Crime Branch HQ SP Merin Joseph, Coastal Police AIG Poonkuzhali, Kerala Police Academy Assistant Director Aishwarya Dongre, AIG Ajith V and Crime Branch SP S Madhusoodhan.
At the same time, actor Revathy Sampath said that she would take a decision on filing the complaint against actor Siddique soon. After raising sexual assault allegations against Siddique on Saturday, Revathy asserted that she has no plans to sue the senior actor. But now, she is reviewing her decision as the government formed a Special Investigation Team. Revathy had alleged that Siddique sexually assaulted her in a hotel in 2016. On Monday, Siddique filed a complaint with DGP rubbishing Revathy's allegations. Siddique argued that Revathy is raising the allegations against him with some hidden agenda.
Apart from Siddique, actors Jayasurya, Mukesh, Baburaj, Maniyanpilla Raju, Edavela Babu, filmmakers Thulasidas and VK Prakash are also facing sexual harassment allegations. 'In Harihar Nagar' fame actor Geetha Vijayan and 'Avan Chandiyude Makan' fame actor Sridevika levelled sexual harassment charges against director Thulasidas. Meanwhile, a junior artist has raised a sexual assault allegation against actor Baburaj, who is the acting general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and 'Odiyan' director Shrikumar Menon. It is learnt that this junior artist also expressed willingness to file a police complaint. Following this, some members of AMMA including Shweta Menon are demanding Babu Raju's resignation from the joint secretary post. On Sunday, Siddique stepped down as general secretary of AMMA after Revathy Sampath reiterated her sexual assault allegations against him.
