KOCHI: Kochi City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju on Saturday dismissed allegations that flaws on the part of police helped rape accused and actor-producer Vijay Babu to flee the country. He said that a notice has been served on Babu asking him to appear for interrogation.
According to Nagaraju, the victim had given a complaint on April 22 evening and the FIR was registered on the same night. “There is nothing confidential to be leaked. The FIR is a public document. The law is that a victim’s identity should not be leaked. There is nothing wrong with the accused coming to know that a case was registered against him. There is no evidence that the police informed Babu about the case. Many people knew about it and there were other sources from where Vijay Babu could have known about the case,” he said.
The commissioner said police had taken utmost care when the statement of the victim was recorded. “The victim was very afraid. We gave her confidence to lodge the complaint. We took utmost care to maintain confidentiality in the case. On April 22 itself, we dispatched a team to locate Babu. At that time he was in Goa. Later, he went into hiding. We will inform the court regarding the conduct of the accused that he is trying to evade law,” Nagaraju said.
Nagaraju said that there is no direction from the Kerala High Court that Babu should not be arrested. He said that an accused filing an anticipatory bail petition in the court doesn’t mean that he cannot be arrested. “If he is available we will arrest him. If he is not available, we will take necessary steps. Currently, we don’t have to go to Dubai for the investigation.
But if such a requirement arises, we will go to Dubai as well,” he said. Nagaraju said the police came to know through social media that another woman had also raised ‘Metoo’ allegation against Babu. “If we receive a complaint, we will register a case. Currently, we have not received any complaint,” he said.
Meanwhile, a day after Women in Cinema Collective questioned the silence of the Malayalam film industry after an actor was sexually harassed by Babu, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) decided to convene its executive committee meeting here on Sunday. There are reports that AMMA has sought an explanation from Babu regarding the incident. Babu is an executive committee member of AMMA. As per reports, the executive committee will decide on action against Babu in its meeting on Sunday.