An FIR has been filed against unknown person on a car reportedly belonging to a “well-known” Malayalam actor for showing off his private parts to school-going girls in Ottappalam of Palakkad district.
According to the complaint, on August 27, a man in a car which supposedly belongs to the actor, who is known to appear in second-lead and villain roles in movies, misbehaved with the girls near their school. He stopped his car, showed off his private parts and took photographs of the girl students, the complaint says. When the students shouted at him, he drove away in the car.
Police say the complaint only mentions the car’s registration number, and not the actor himself. Sources say that students identified the actor and noted down his car number, and filed a complaint at the Ottappalam police station.
Though no names were mentioned in FIR, many Malayalam online portals revealed that the car belonged to actor Sreejith Ravi, son of TG Ravi. Sreejith Ravi told Manorama News that he had nothing to do with the incident and if the flasher was indeed him, some of the children would have identified him. He said, "The car number mentioned in the complaint belongs to me. But it could not have been my car. I think the students took down the number of the car wrongly and coincidentally it turned out to be my car's number," he told Manorama.
There are also allegations that police tried to protect the actor and tried to force the complainants to withdraw the complaint.
Palakkad district Police Commissioner Srinivas denied this. “The students had examination and their statements could not be recorded initially. We will do it,” he told TNM.
“In the FIR, only the car registration number has been mentioned, and accused name is not given. We are not trying to protect anybody. Since exams were going on, we could not take their statements. After exams, with the help of Child Line, we will take statements and proceed with the investigation,” Ottappalam Circle Inspector M Sasidharan told The News Minute.
Palakkad Child line will also intervene in the issue as all complainants were minors.
"There were about 15 complainants. We have taken statements from them. They said this person was in a Renault Duster car and when they shouted he went immediately. They have given more details to police. As far as I know police have identified the person,” Gopakumar, Coordinator, Palakkad Childline told TNM.
Police say that the children could be questioned today.