On Wednesday night, we reported about a fresh twist in the sexual harassment case against filmmaker Ranjith. Lawyer Mohammad Siyad, who reportedly served as the external member of the Internal Complaints Committee formed for the director’s ongoing film, appeared at court to advocate in his defense soon after his arrest. Now, according to the latest news from Reporter Live, SIT would question actor Bobby Kurian of Pani fame and assistant director Shalini over their potential role in helping the director evade arrest. If confirmed, they would be regarded as the accused. Reportedly, the law enforcement officers who are investigating the case have also found the caravan where the incident happened.
Reports say that Ranjith was taken into custody from Thodupuzha while travelling in an attempt to evade arrest in Kottayam and that Shalini and Bobby Kurian were with him at the time. The two were let go by police as they said that Ranjith did not tell them anything about the case and that they did not know anything about it. However, SIT has decided to question them because of a strong suspicion of their involvement in the case.
The police are also looking to trace the location of the caravan, where the alleged incident happened. According to reports, the vehicle had no CCTV inside, but there were cameras placed in and around the set in Fort Kochi. Allegedly, the actor who endured the crime ran away from the vehicle and informed some of the others who are part of the project about her experience, but they kept it hidden. The police are also looking to find out who else is involved in the crime. Meanwhile, Ranjith has filed a bail plea, and a judicial first class magistrate in Ernakulam is set to consider it on Saturday.
This is not the first #MeToo accusation against the filmmaker. He was one of the film personalities named in the recent Justice Hema Committee Report following allegations from a Bengali actor.
