The Kerala Police on Thursday registered a case of rape against actor and CPI(M) legislator M Mukesh following a complaint from an actor, a charge which he has denied as “blackmail tactics” and threatened to initiate legal action against the accuser. The actor has levelled the allegation against Mukesh, a two-time legislator from the Kollam Assembly seat, in the aftermath of the Justice Hema Committee report’s findings of widespread sexual abuse and harassment of women in the Malayalam film industry. After the scandal emerged, Mukesh has been keeping away from public functions and reactions. On Tuesday, in a Facebook post, he called for an objective probe into the allegations against all film professionals including him. Referring to the complaint of an actor against him, Mukesh said, “They had tried to blackmail me by demanding money. I am not ready to yield to such blackmail tactics. Truth should come out. I would initiate strong legal action against such persons”. Earlier, the police registered rape cases against veteran actor Siddique and director Ranjith following complaints of sexual misconduct. Before that, Siddique was forced to quit as general secretary of the actors body Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and Ranjith as the chairman of the state entity Kerala Chalachitra Academy. On Tuesday, the 17-member executive committee of the Association of Malayalam Movies Artistes (AMMA), including its president and superstar actor Mohanlal, resigned from their posts. Apart from Mukesh, prominent actors Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpillai Raju, film production controller Noble and pro-Congress lawyers association leader V S Chandrasekharan have been accused of sexual abuse by many actors. Opposition parties and women leaders from the Left including senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat and CPI’s Annie Raja have been demanding the resignation of Mukesh as a legislator. However, the CPI(M) in Kerala had put its weight behind the actor-turned-politician. The CPI(M) had rejected the demand on the ground that Congress legislators M Vincent and Eldose Kunnappally, who had faced similar cases, did not step down as legislators. The Kerala Government has formed a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising IPS officers, to investigate the accusations after the Justice Hema Committee report was released. The SIT met on Tuesday.
