Vijay Babu, Malayalam actor and producer accused in a case of rape, had earlier stated that he could produce all the messages sent between him and the complainant, months prior to the alleged incidents, to prove his innocence. In a Facebook live video he posted shortly after the complaint was lodged, he had not only revealed the name of the survivor illegally, but also claimed that her many messages to him would prove that he was the "victim". He even made the same claims in his bail plea. However, at the Kerala High Court where his plea is being heard, Vijay apparently changed tack to say that he only had the messages from March 30 this year, and produced screenshots of WhatsApp conversations, which the prosecution suspects were manipulated.
The actor-producer is awaiting his anticipatory bail plea orders from the High Court. However, there are quite a few contradictions between the claims on Vijay's bail plea and what he actually presented before the court later, says a source. He had for instance claimed that the survivor, an actor in Malayalam films, used to send "abusive messages" to him at odd hours, even after knowing the details of his family. He said that he did not raise a complaint fearing "it would become viral and would affect the future of the petitioner (Vijay)."
However, at the court, he made it sound as if these were all consensual messages. Further, despite claiming in the bail plea that he has kept "all messages, WhatsApp messages, Instagram messages and photos and videos" sent by the survivor, he produced only selected documents at the court. Besides, many of these were images, instead of text, which caused the prosecution to doubt their authenticity.
Sources tell us that a campaign appears to be underway to malign the survivor. She has reportedly been losing work opportunities at the behest of Vijay Babu and other influential members of the film industry. Several YouTube videos, made by supporters of Vijay Babu, calling the survivor's case ‘fake’ have also sprouted up.
There have also been reports that a friend of Vijay Babu offered on his behalf Rs 1 crore to the survivor to withdraw the case. The survivor spoke out about this in a recent interview with Mathrubhumi.
Amid these developments, it is also understood that the prosecution has presented before the court an older petition filed by Vijay Babu's wife, asking for a restraining order against him. In the petition, his wife said that Vijay would physically assault her while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and that she feared for her life.
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