Thiruvananthapuram: A week after Malayalam actor Siddique got anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court, he turned up at the City Police Commissioner’s office here Monday for questioning in a rape case filed against him by an actress.
After spending some time at the Commissioner’s office, he was seen driving out as he was asked to report to the office where he was told by the SIT probe team to present himself, which he did, but did not respond to questions from the media.
A police case against Siddique was registered based on a complaint by an actress who accused him of raping her in a state-owned hotel in the capital city in 2016.
Trouble began for Siddique when September 24, the Kerala High Court rejected his anticipatory bail and in a few hours he went missing. Despite the efforts of the Kerala Police to arrest him, they were unable to do so.
He re-surfaced after September 30 when the apex court granted him bail and asked him to present himself before the probe team. The police were asked not to arrest him for two weeks.
Incidentally, a few days after he secured bail, he wrote to the probe team that he was ready to appear before it.
It was after a few days the probe team responded and asked him to appearMonday.
The actress, who initially hesitated to file a police complaint, later emailed the state police chief alleging that Siddique raped her after she refused to give in to his demands for sexual favours in exchange for a role in a Tamil movie.
When this revelation came, Siddique, who was recently elected as the General Secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), quit the post.
Thereafter, the entire committee chaired by President Mohanlal also resigned.
Siddique had contended in court that this particular actress had been harassing him since 2019 by making repeated claims on social media that he tried to molest her at a theatre in 2016, and after the Justice Hema Committee report was published, she made a more serious allegation of rape at a different place in the same year.
The Justice Hema Committee has unleashed a storm of trouble for the Malayalam film industry. Following its revelations, a few former actresses publicly revealed their bad experiences and the police were quick to act, registering 11 FIRs against various film personalities.
At present, those who are in the dock include actor-turned-CPI(M) legislator Mukesh Madhavan, Nivin Pauly, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith and Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble.
Mukesh, Ranjith, Raju, Prakash and now Jayasurya have already got relief from the courts from being arrested. Siddique was the first actor who applied for anticipatory bail but failed to get it.
The special investigation team (SIT) is probing the allegations of sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry and has been recording the statements of those who had deposed before the Justice Hema Committee.