Denying the allegations of sexual abuse against him, actor Nivin Pauly said during a press conference in Kochi on Tuesday, September 3 that he neither knew the woman who made the complaint nor had he ever spoken to her. Nivin, a popular actor most active in Malayalam cinema, said that he wanted to clear the air immediately and requested the media to find out the facts before labelling him as a big abuser.
“I understand that an FIR has been registered. I will also fight it legally. I will make every effort to prove my innocence, because such fake allegations can come against anyone. I am speaking for all of them. Or it will keep happening,” Nivin said, merely hours after a case of sexual assault was filed against him and five others, including film producer AK Sunil, at the Oonnukal police station in Kochi. Nivin is the sixth accused in the case.
Nivin said that he had received a call from a circle inspector of police one and a half months ago about a complaint of similar nature made by the same woman. “He read out the FIR to me over the phone. I told him I did not know her. It was later closed as a fake case. I’d asked the Circle Inspector if I should file a complaint for a fake case, but he discouraged it saying there was no need to waste my time going after it. So I didn’t. I am yet to read the new FIR,” Nivin said.
Adding that the case seemed like a conspiracy, he said he knew one of the persons mentioned in the FIR who provides funds for films, but did not know any of the others. The woman had mentioned in her complaint that the alleged abuse took place in Dubai. Nivin said that he met a producer at the Dubai Mall where he was introduced to another man who could provide half the funds for the film, but that he never met the woman. “I wondered if it was someone who came for an audition back then. But when I checked with the director (who had called for an audition for Nivin’s film), he said the audition was not done. I don't know if she’s taken a selfie with me when I went somewhere, because lots of people do,” he said.
Referring to the series of allegations that have come out since the release of the Hema Committee Report two weeks ago, Nivin said that Malayalam cinema is not made of only bad people. “Everyday news related to people in cinema are coming. We don’t know what is true and which is false. But such allegations affect immediate families and someone had to make a move to stop it. I will fight to any extreme legally to prove my innocence.”
