Kerala actor abduction: Police begins probe on complaint by Dileep
Kochi: The police has started an investigation into a complaint lodged by actor Dileep on a blackmailing bid made allegedly on behalf of Pulsar Suni, the first accused in the abduction and molestation of a co-star. Dileep had filed the complaint along with the recorded voice clip with the office of the state police chief on April 20, saying a person identified as Vishnu contacted his close friend and filmmaker Nadirsha and manager Appunni over the phone and sought Rs 1.5 crore for not dragging his name into the case. Confirming it, Nadirsha told reporters on Saturday that the person had introduced himself as a friend of Suni and said many in the industry wanted to drag the star into the case.
“The caller claimed a few from the movie industry were ready to offer Rs 2 to Rs 2.5 crore if Suni mentioned Dileep’s name,” Nadirsha said. “We’ve not taken it on face value, but filed a complaint with the then DGP Loknath Behera as it amounted to blackmailing.” “The Special Investigation Team (SIT) looking into the complaint and will verify its authenticity, including that of the audiotape handed over to us. A forensic examination and attempt to identify the voice of the person involved in the audio would be made,” a senior officer said. Meanwhile, the probe team is understood to have already interrogated Vishnu. Kakkanad district jail officials confirmed that Suni had shared the cell with one Vishnu, who had been arrested in connection with a chain-snatching case. “They had spent a couple of weeks together, and Vishnu was later released on completion of his sentence,” they said.
The syndicate did not take any action against him. It constituted a three-member sub-committee comprising Dr Prathapachandra Kurup, Dr Bhasi and Prof M.K. Jayaraj to probe and recommend final action in the case. The article was published in the journal Applied Physics (A) Material Science and Processing published by the prestigious international publishing house Springer. The journal reviewers identified later that the authors had used cooked- up data to support their paper. They viewed it seriously and reported for action to the ISP. However, it is learnt that Dr Mujeeb being the director concealed the communication and did not take action which later came to the notice of the university.
As the ISP failed to respond to its communiqué in this regard, the journal also published a note of concern warning international scientific community in this regard. The development has greater ramification for the university as it has lowered the reputation of Cusat among the international scientific community. The researchers from the university will find it difficult to publish their papers in peer-reviewed international science journals. The syndicate unanimously expressed concern over the development as it will hamper Cusat’s goal to become an internationally-reputed university.
