Aju Varghese in deep water
Malayalam actor-producer Aju Varghese recently shot himself in the foot by naming the survivor, who was kidnapped and allegedly sexually assaulted in a moving car in Kochi earlier this year. Besides coming under fire for his poor judgement, Aju was also facing arrest based on a complaint filed by one Gireesh Babu, a Kalamassery native.
However, the actor on Tuesday moved the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the FIR filed against him for naming the victim. He was equipped with an affidavit from the survivor, who had expressed that she had no interest in pressing charges against her ‘friend’.
“Aju is my friend. He did not have any malicious interest in revealing my name,” the actress said in the affidavit, according to a Manorama report.
In July, he was grilled at Kalamassery station during which the actor’s iPhone was also seized. He had been booked under section 22 B (A) of the IPC.
In a Facebook post, Aju had revealed the identity of the actress while defending movie star Dileep, who has been named as the co-conspirator in the case. While describing the crime against his woman colleague as “unpardonable,” he had claimed that there was a deliberate attempt to frame Dileep for the crime that he did not commit. Later, he removed the name of the actress from the controversial post but not before drawing criticisms.
Aju is one of the heavyweights in the industry who had slammed media and even tried shaming the victim to defend Dileep in the case. However, following his arrest, all most every member of the film fraternity have turned their back on Dileep. He was even expelled from the primary membership in Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, which once stood by him in the case.
