For a film fraternity that promised to steadfastly stand by its ‘children’, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, better known as AMMA (meaning mother in Malayalam), did not take much time in pushing out Dileep, the popular actor arrested for his alleged conspiratorial role in the abduction and molestation of an actress. Another association, Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) also removed Dileep from its organisation.
A week ago, several actors such as Mukesh and KB Ganesh Kumar (a former minister) had hit out at the media during an AMMA press conference accusing journalists of misreporting facts in the case. To jubilant cheers from fellow actors, they vowed to stand by Dileep and the actress, both of whom are members of the association. Just a day after the actor was arrested and remanded to police custody for 14 days, ‘AMMA’ sought to remove its ‘son’ in a bid to placate its young actors and actresses who have sided with the victim.
The emergency meeting convened at actor Mammootty’s residence saw actors Devan, Idavela Babu, Asif Ali, Prithviraj and Remya Nambeesan urging to come out with a statement. Mammootty said that the organisation will always stand by the victim.
Police justified Dileep’s arrest claiming that it had irrefutable evidence against the actor’s role in the abduction of the actress. The actor was subjected to two rounds of intense questioning following which the move to arrest him was taken by the police.
19 pieces of evidence
It is being widely reported that the police have 19 pieces of strong evidence on the basis of which they found reason to arrest Dileep. The actor is likely to be named as second accused in the case after ‘Pulsar’ Suni who master-minded the abduction and alleged molestation of the actress on February 17 earlier this year. Dileep is alleged to have offered Suni a ‘quotation’ of Rs 1.5 crore for the same.
The actor was questioned again for the second time Monday for several hours during which time he is alleged to have even broken down at one point when the evidence was presented before him. Suni’s alleged letter to Dileep, that was leaked to media, his phone conversations that were tapped and the meetings he reportedly had with the actor were the basis for the police’s move to arrest him. Dileep had even filed a case in April complaining of harassment and blackmailing from Suni and his associates.
All this while, the actor has maintained that he is innocent and that he was being trapped in the case. He told reporters that truth would come out eventually.
Kavya Madhavan and Manju Warrier
While the police has not publicly talked about what it discovered in its interrogation of the actor, regional news channels in the state have spoken of different theories quoting sources. The TV channels have said that Dileep’s motive behind ordering the actress’s kidnapping is linked to his relationship with Kavya Madhavan, his present wife, and his divorce of Manju Warrier, his first wife. Both Manju and Kavya are leading actresses in the state. Dileep was reportedly miffed with the actress for her closeness to Manju and for creating circumstances that led to their divorce. Apparently, the actress told Manju about Dileep’s relationship with Kavya. Of course, none of this has been officially established.
That the prime accused ‘Pulsar’ Suni was seen on CCTV cameras near Kavya’s business premises has added more fuel to the fire.
Dileep had reportedly started planning the abduction sometime in 2013 after a public spat with the actress. This was the same year, the actor filed for divorce in the family court.