#MeToo Accused So Far: Names Of Mollywood Bigwigs Crop Up In SIT Probe

#MeToo In Mollywood: The Malayalam film industry was basking in the success of its movies such as Manjummel Boys, Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life, Aavesham and Turbo until the Hema Committee report took over casting a dark cloud. The report, submitted by the committee in 2019, was made available to the public on August 19, 2024. The report highlighted the sexual harassment faced by women in Malayalam cinema with many alleging they were subjected to unwanted advances at the hands of the prominent figures in the industry.

Actresses like Revathy Sampath, Minu Muneer, Sreelekha Mitra and Sonia Malhar voiced their ordeal in front of the media and registered a complaint against Siddique, Mukesh M, Jayasurya, filmmaker Ranjith and others for sexual misconduct. As more actresses are coming forward and naming their predators and harassers, take a look at the big names that are being probed by SIT (formed by the Kerala government).

Siddique

A veteran actor-producer has been in the industry for around 4 decades and has starred in several hit movies such as Godfather,  Asuravamsam and Lelam. Owing to his successful track, the actor is considered one of the pioneers of Malayalam cinema. However, now he is facing a rape allegation against him. On Wednesday, PTI reported a rape case had been registered against Siddique following a female actor's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2016. An FIR under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) has been registered against the actor at Museum police station, a senior police officer said. The case was registered under the IPC as the offence allegedly occurred in 2016. Earlier to this, Revathy in a media interaction alleged that Siddique abused her "mentally and physically" when she was 21 years old.

Ranjith

Filmmaker Ranjith, who has three National Film Awards in his name, has been accused by Bengali actress Sreelekha Mitra of sexual misconduct. She alleged that he intended to seek sexual favour from her during the audition of his 2009 film Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha. In his defence, Ranjith denied the allegations and said that he is the "real victim" here. Following the allegation Ranjith stepped down as KCA President on Sunday.

Mukesh M

On Thursday, Malayalam actor and ruling CPI(M) MLA M Mukesh was booked by Kerala police under rape charges. An FIR under IPC 376 (rape) was registered against the actor at Maradu police station in Kochi city on Wednesday (August 28) night, a police officer said. The offence allegedly occurred before the new Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita came into force, he said.

Maniyanpilla Raju

A senior police official from Ernakulam said an FIR under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at the Fort Kochi police station against Raju. This came after actress Minu Muneer penned a long note on her Facebook handle reporting a series of incidents of physical and verbal abuse she suffered at the hands of Mukesh M, Maniyan Pilla Raju, Idavela Babu, Jayasurya, adv Chandrasekaran, production controller Noble and Vichu.

Jayasurya

After Raju, Jayasurya was also registered under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code, the Cantonment police in Thiruvananthapuram confirmed.

VK Prakash

Director VK Prakash is also on the list of alleged harassers. A young writer accused him of misbehaviour and filed a complaint of sexual misconduct against the maker, as per a report in Mathrubhumi.

Mansoor Rasheed

Not just the prominent actors and director, but also the assistant director has been accused of sexual harassment. A junior artist working on the set of Prithviraj Sukumaran's directorial Bro Daddy (2022) narrated gruesome details of rape and blackmail she was allegedly subjected to at the hands of Mansoor Rasheed. She alleged the assistant director of "spiking her drink" and raping her. She further claimed to register a case against Rasheed in 2023. On knowing this, he threatened her and harassed her friends and relatives. The alleged victim shared that the director of the movie, Prithviraj was aware of this and went on to work with Rasheed in two other films.

Kerala CM formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Sunday to probe the matter raised by several Malayalam actresses. All these accused are currently under investigation by the team.