KOCHI: Kara’ Ratheesh aka Ratheesh Malayattoor, 37, the alleged mastermind behind the destruction of set of multi-lingual movie ‘Minnal Murali’, was arrested after he surrendered before the Angamaly police on Monday evening. His arrest came barely 24 hours after the incident. Ratheesh, who is the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal district chief, was later turned over to Perumbavoor police probing the case.”We have intensified the inquiry and the rest of the accused will be nabbed soon,” said Ernakulam Rural S P K Karthik, who is supervising the probe. The police also recovered a car used by the gang from Malayattoor Road.
A dreaded gangster from the Perumbavoor area, Ratheesh is the key accused in the goonda attack at Kalady which claimed the life of Sanal Devasykutty on September 26, 2016.It was on Sunday night that the set of the multi-lingual movie at Kalady was vandalised allegedly by right-wing activists. According to the state unit of Akhila Hindu Parishad (AHP), the huge structure of a church in front of a temple had hurt religious sentiments.
“We had asked them not to set up such a structure in front of Mahadeva temple. It was destroyed to protect our self-respect,” Hari Palode, general secretary, AHP, said in an FB post. The temple authorities disclosed they had given sanction for setting up the set near the temple premises. “We gave given permission for film shooting. ,” said V S Subin Kumar, president of Sivarathri celebration committee.
The incident occurred on the Periyar’s banks where the art directors had toiled to erect the huge structure. The climax was supposed to be shot in the church. But the Kalady schedule was hit due to the lockdown. The film crew,put the loss at around `50 lakh.
Sophia Paul, producer of ‘Minnal Murali’, took to social media to express her disappointment. “Minnal Murali is an ambitious project and we have filmed a major portion of the film. The film required almost two years of preproduction work. The remaining portion will be shot as soon as restrictions are lifted. The next schedule is planned in Kalady. All necessary clearances to build the set at the location were taken. The incident is so unfortunate and a colossal loss,” she said in her Facebook post.
Helmed by Basil Joseph, Minnal Murali has Tovino Thomas donning the lead role of a local superhero. Tamil actor Guru Somasundaram is cast in an important role. Scripted by Arun Anirudhan and Justin Mathew, the film tells the story of a rustic youth who attains the power of a superhero after being struck by lightning.