Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala police continued interrogating on Friday two men suspected of playing a key role in an assault on an actress, as state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan vowed not to allow criminals to control the world of cinema.
Officers had managed to snatch the key accused Sunil Kumar alias ‘Pulsar’ Suni and his accomplice V.K. Vijeesh from a courtroom in Kochi on Thursday.
Suni and Vijesh were in the court to surrender before the magistrate, but police forcibly took them away as the magistrate was on his lunch break in his private chamber.
The two suspects are in custody for allegedly waylaying and attacking a popular Malayalam movie star while she was returning to Kochi last Friday night after an assignment in Thrissur.
The two are accused of forcibly stopping and entering her car and molesting the actress.
The actress told police that she heard the gang saying that they were on a ‘quotation’ work, the local terminology for undertaking criminal activities for remuneration.
Reports indicate that the duo may have attempted to film vulgar visuals of the actress in an attempt to blackmail her.
Police believe the gang may have been involved in filming female stars in compromising positions and blackmailing them using those videos. More film stars may have been blackmailed by the gang, reports say.
Police are on the lookout for the mobile phone used by Suni during the incident. Suni reportedly told interrogators he had thrown the mobile phone into a drain. Police searched the area, but the gadget is yet to be recovered.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government would protect the film sector from the influence of criminal gangs.
He said the government would stand by the film industry if anyone tried to wreck the sector.
He also decried the rumours that were raised against several film stars in the backdrop of the attack on the actress.
“Even before the [suspects] are booked, some people create imaginary culprits”, Vijayan said addingpolice would not chase such imaginary wrongdoers.
Meanwhile, actor-director Lal said the actress had not been in town on the day of the attack for any acting assignment.
He said she had asked for a car to go to actress Ramya Nambisan’s house.
Lal said some people like producer-director Anto Joseph were “crucified” over the past few days by the rumour mills, adding that Joseph had come to his help that night to assist the actress after the attack on her.
