Two accused of attacking actress remanded

Gang may have been involved in blackmailing other female stars, reports say

Acourt here yesterday sent prime accused Sunil Kumar, alias ‘Pulsar’ Suni, and his accomplice, arrested in the kidnapping of a popular Malayalam actress, to 14 days judicial custody.

Suni and an accomplice were arrested by police from inside a court room on Thursday and interrogated, before they appeared before a magistrate here.

Later both were taken to a jail. Police will seek custody of the two today.

Investigators in the early hours of yesterday took out Pulsar Suni for two hours as part of the probe on the roads through which the actress was taken in the vehicle on that fateful night.

Officers had managed to snatch the key accused Suni and his accomplice V.K. Vijeesh from a courtroom in Kochi on Thursday.

Suni and Vijeesh were in the court to surrender before the magistrate, but police forcibly took them away as the magistrate was on his lunch break in his private chamber.

The two suspects are in custody for allegedly waylaying and attacking a popular Malayalam movie star while she was returning to Kochi last Friday night after an assignment in Thrissur.

The two are accused of forcibly stopping and entering her car and molesting the actress.

The actress told police that she heard the gang saying that they were on a ‘quotation’ work, the local terminology for undertaking criminal activities for remuneration.

Reports indicate that the duo may have attempted to film vulgar visuals of the actress in an attempt to blackmail her.

Police believe the gang may have been involved in filming female stars in compromising positions and blackmailing them using those videos. More film stars may have been blackmailed by the gang, reports say.

Police are on the lookout for the mobile phone used by Suni during the incident. Suni reportedly told interrogators he had thrown the mobile phone into a drain. Police searched the area, but the gadget is yet to be recovered.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government would protect the film sector from the influence of criminal gangs.

He said the government would stand by the film industry if anyone tried to wreck the sector. He also decried the rumours that were raised against several film stars in the backdrop of the attack on the actress.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan decried the rumours that were raised against several film stars in the backdrop of the attack on the actress.