Kerala court grants bail to director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan

A Kerala court on Friday granted bail to Malayalam director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan who was arrested on a complaint by leading actor Manju Warrier who alleged she was being threatened and stalked by Sasidharan. Incidentally, even though the police were willing to grant him police station bail on Thursday night, he was not willing, and finally, the police were forced to present him before a local court at Aluva near here on Friday.

The court asked why he refused when he could have got police station bail, he said he wanted to say a few things in court. The court heard it and granted him bail after two sureties were asked to stand as guarantee.

In dramatic scenes on Thursday, he was taken into custody based on a complaint from Manju Warrier that she was being threatened and stalked by him for a while. Sasidharan along with his relatives had come to a temple near his home town Parassala in the state capital district when three cops in plainclothes tried to forcibly take him into custody. Soon the director went live on Facebook alleging that his life was in danger as a few people were trying to "kidnap" him.

He was seen shouting that he does not have faith in the system, in the state, and is presently living at his sister's home in Tamil Nadu, which borders Parassala. Soon local policemen arrived and Sasidharan was taken into custody based on the complaint by Warrier. The 45-year-old Sasidharan in the past few days shared a few social media posts, claiming that the life of Warrier was in danger.

He alleged her managers were the reason why she was in trouble. He also pointed out that she is in "custody" of some people.