Rape case: Kochi police likely to arrest actor Siddique; issues lookout circular

Kochi: The Kerala High Court here on Tuesday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Malayalam actor Siddique in a rape case. Fearing arrest, the actor decided to move an appeal in the Supreme Court against the HC order. It is learnt that Siddique's lawyer will forward the plea in the apex court once the HC issues its detailed judgement. At the same time, Crime Branch head Sparjan Kumar ordered Kochi police to arrest the actor in the case.

According to reports, police have circulated a lookout circular against the actor in all airports to block him from fleeing the country.

Museum police in Thiruvananthapuram booked the actor in a rape case after receiving a complaint from a female actor. The young actor filed her complaint against Siddique following the release of the Hema Committee report. The complainant alleged that Siddique raped her at the Mascot Hotel in the capital city on January 28, 2016, after the preview show of a movie. As the court rejected his bail plea, the SIT will likely record the arrest of the accused for an interrogation in the case. 

Manorama News reported that the actor is not in his house at Kakkanad. His mobile phone is also switched off.  The detailed order giving reasons for rejecting the actor's plea is not yet available. 

Apart from rape charges, Siddique is also facing charges under IPC Section 506 (criminal intimidation). The young actor came with a complaint against Siddique following the release of the Hema Committee report that exposed violence against women in the Malayalam film industry. As more women raised sexual assault allegations against actors, directors and production controllers, the state government formed a Special Investigation Team to probe into the cases.

Till date, the SIT registered 23 cases over the complaints filed by women in the Malayalam film industry. Of these, the police have recovered the maximum evidence in the cases against Siddique. In the evidence collection at the hotel, police confirmed that Siddique and the complainant stayed at the hotel during the same period.  Citing these, the court rejected the actor's anticipatory bail plea. 

"After finishing Plus Two, I was contacted through social media. Later, after the preview show of the film Sukhamaayirikkatte, I was called to the Mascot Hotel for a discussion. I was 21 years old at the time. It was there that I was sexually assaulted. He locked me in. I managed to escape from there," the complainant said.

Following the allegations, Siddique resigned from his position as General Secretary of the 'AMMA' organization. The senior actor rubbished the allegations and alleged conspiracy behind it. In his plea, the actor alleged that the complainant female actor, has subjected him to the "prolonged campaign of harassment and false accusations since 2019". In his anticipatory bail plea, he further claimed that she had repeatedly, for the past five years, made unsubstantiated and false claims of sexual misbehaviour and 'verbal sexual offers' by him in a theatre in 2016. "But now she has raised totally contradictory allegation of more serious crime of rape at a different place in the same year," he had said in his plea.