Filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan taken into custody for stalking popular Malayalam actor

The Kochi City police have taken into custody filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan from Parassala in Thiruvananthapuram district on Thursday on a petition of stalking by a popular Malayalam film actor.

Mr. Sasidharan is being brought to Elamakkara police station where the woman actor had lodged a petition on Wednesday evening.

“We have registered a case for stalking and harassment both physically and over social media by invoking IPC Section 354D (any man who— follows a woman and contacts, or attempts to contact such woman to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear indication of disinterest by such woman). His arrest will be recorded at Elamakkara station,” confirmed a senior official with the city police.

High drama ensued while taking him into custody after Mr. Sasidharan resisted the team from Elamakkara police and went on Facebook live questioning their credentials and expressing fear for his life. Later, local police from Parassala police came to the scene and confirmed the credentials of the cops who have come to take him into custody before he was taken away.

The actor had acted and produced a film by Mr. Sasidharan which was released last year and made round of the festival circuit including the International Film Festival of Kerala.

Mr. Sasidharan had last month made a Facebook post expressing fear that the actor’s life was in danger and that she was being controlled by her aides based on what he claimed to be the experiences during the making of the film. He also admitted to have expressed his feelings for her and that an Instagram post he had made on his ‘admiration’ for her was lifted at her request. In the post, Mr. Sasidharan said that the day after the Instagram post he received a threatening call from a person claiming to be the circle inspector of Aroor.

He had made somewhat similar posts in December last year. In the first post that appeared on December 15, he bemoaned that despite working together he could not express his admirations for her privately and that the film will be “remembered in the name of my admiration and love for her.”

A couple of days later, he posted about receiving a call from a circle inspector in Ernakulam about stalking the actor over social media based on her complaint and that it ended on a warning note. He then went on to allege that she was in a ‘cage’ of her aides based on his experience of having gone to meet her during the inauguration of a hotel a few days prior.

Mr. Sasidharan has been making incoherent remarks about being under threat and recently took to social media saying he had written to the President of India and the Chief Justice of India over what he claimed was a breakdown of law and order in Kerala.