Thiruvananthapuram: Leading Malayalam film star Dileep and his friend and actor-director Nadir Shah who were at the Aluva Police Club on Wednesday with regard to the case of an actress being abducted and abused earlier this year, are likely to be quizzed by police again, police officials said.
The duo, along with Dileep’s manager Appunny were at the Police Club for nearly 13 hours. Half of that time is reported to have been used by police to take the statements of the trio.
Contrary to what Dileep had said on Wednesday, that he was going to the Police Club to give his version regarding the complaint he had given to police about someone trying to blackmail him, police officials said on Thursday the actor was also questioned regarding the abduction and abuse of the actress.
“We may call them again if there are more clarifications required”, Aluva rural superintendent of police, A.V. George said on Thursday.
Ahead of going to the Police Club on Wednesday, Dileep had told media persons that he “will not be available for trial by media”.
On Thursday, he sounded more sober, smiling to media persons and stating that the extended time spent at the Police Club was because police needed time to hear him and the two others and take their statements.
The actor could come out of the Police Club only past 1am on Thursday. An investigation team led by inspector general B. Sandhya is probing the case.
Police are presently looking into two cases, namely the complaint given by Dileep about an attempt to blackmail him, and the bigger issue of a likely conspiracy behind the abduction and abuse of the actress.
Following his release early on Thursday, Dileep made it to the general body meeting of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) in Kochi.
Female artistes raised the issue of the actress’ abduction at the AMMA meeting. Women artistes had recently floated the ‘Women in Cinema Collective’, sparking speculation that there was a gender divide within AMMA. The association’s president, Innocent, however denied that AMMA had a patriarchal approach.
Meanwhile, AMMA was criticised by popular writer N.S. Madhavan for his stand in the actress abduction case. Madhavan tweeted that the abbreviation AMMA stood for ‘Association of Money-mad Male Artistes’. He added, ‘Artistes are seen as sensitive & compassionate. No wonder, Malayalam films after AMMA are pits’.
