Actor Edavela Babu, also the General Secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), has defended his stance in the court regarding the actor assault case.
“I don’t understand who changed statements,” said actor Edavela Babu when asked about his statement. Babu denied in an interview to Reporter TV that the survivor actor had given him a ‘written complaint’ about the accused – actor Dileep – about wrecking her acting opportunities over a grudge.
“I can only answer the questions that the court asks me. I was asked if there was proof of the complaint and I said no,” said Babu. On further asked if there has been a complaint made orally in person, he said, “That and more might have been said in person. But the court asked for a record of the complaint and that was not there.”
He and actor Bindhu Panicker had earlier turned hostile witnesses in the case while actors Bhamaa and Siddhique too changed their original statement given to the police recently.
“Only I know what statement I gave the police. The court calls you for a hearing when they have doubts about what the police said. They (the police) had recorded some of the points I made, but some others were not there. I need to answer only what the court asked me,” Babu said.
He claimed that there is no ‘record of a complaint’.
However in early 2018, there were reports of a leaked statement that Babu gave the police in which he had admitted that the survivor actor gave complaints about being denied acting opportunities. At the time AMMA had contended that the complaint was not received in writing, contradicting Babu's statement.
Last month, Sidhique and Bhamaa turned hostile witnesses during the trial held at a special court in Kochi. Both of them contradicted the statements that they had originally given to the police regarding an argument between the survivor actor and Dileep during a stage programme. Several members of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), which was formed after the assault on the actor, expressed their disappointment at the change in stance by Bhamaa. Afterward, Bhamaa put out a cryptic post saying that ‘Sometimes peace is better than being right’.
Watch: Edavela Babu on his statement in actor assault case