Malayalam film director Priyanandan TR was attacked with cow dung on Friday, three weeks after he posted a derogatory poem on Sabarimala Ayyappan on Facebook.

According to reports, the attackers poured water mixed with cow dung on the director, near his house in Vallachira on Friday morning. The director was later admitted to the Cherpu Community Health centre where he is current undergoing treatment.

Alleging that the attack was perpetrated by right wing workers including BJP and RSS, the director has stated that he can identify the culprits and will be filing a complaint soon.

“He has not yet given a complaint. But the complaint will be registered here and action will be taken immediately. As of now, he is still recovering from the attack,” an officer from the Cherpu police station in Thrissur told TNM.

Three weeks ago, the director had written a post on the Sabarimala deity Ayyappa on his Facebook page. The poem that used abusive words and references drew a lot of flak from several quarters and he pulled it down on the same day.

Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the attack against Priyanandan was condemnable. He also alleged that the director was faced with cyber threats and warnings from right wing groups a few weeks ago, following his controversial post. Stating that such attacks are an infringement on creative freedom, the CM said that such incidents will not be tolerated in any way.

Priyanandan was awarded the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 2008 and the Kerala State Film Award for Best Debut Director in 2001.