Popular Director Arrested Over Sexual Assault

In a shocking development, seasoned Malayalam director and producer Ranjith Balakrishnan, who faced numerous allegations for his inappropriate behaviour in the explosive Hema Committee Report, has now been arrested by the Ernakulam Central police over alleged sexual assault of an actress. 

Reportedly, a young starlet had filed a complaint with Kochi police over his conduct while shooting for a movie. After initial investigation, he was finally taken into custody in Idukki and was handed over to Kochi police. Ranjith was arrested while travelling through the town for a scheduled event. 

According to the complaint filed by the actress, Ranjith called her to his caravan during the shooting of an ongoing film and behaved in an indecent manner with sexual intent. She immediately left the place and filed a complaint with the film’s Internal Complaints Committe on the director. 

After preliminary inquiries into the complaint, the ICC has filed a complaint with the Kerala police for further action. The police recorded her statements and initiated the arrest of the director. 

Ranjith had earlier faced allegations of sexual harassment and his name featured in the explosive Justice Hema Committee Report which raised serious concern over the ill-treatment of female stars in the Malayalam film industry.

A Bengali actress filed complaint in 2024 over his conduct and levelled serious allegations. Later, a 31 year old man filed a sexual assault complaint on Ranjith in Bengaluru. 

Though he denied these claims, Ranjith stepped down as Kerala Chalachitra Academy chairman. He was later given clean chit in one of these cases.