Malayalam film director Balachandrakumar has been given a clean chit in the case where he was accused of rape by a 44-year-old woman. The woman filed a complaint in February 2022 alleging that Balachandrakumar had raped her in 2010 and recorded the incident on his mobile phone. Balachandrakumar, however, had denied the allegations and said that it was a consequence of his disclosure about actor Dileep's involvement in the 2017 sexual assault case.
The Kochi police’s High-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell investigated the case against Balachandrakumar. In the closure report filed before a local court, the police stated that there appears to be no merit behind the complaint. The police report says that it found that director Balachandrakumar had never visited the house where the woman alleged the incident occurred in 2010.
The police also raised doubts that people connected to Dileep were behind the attempt to frame Balachandrakumar. “The role of director and scriptwriter John Ditto, director Shanthivila Dinesh alias Dineshan Nair, Dileep's former manager and a few people working in online media appears to be suspicious in framing this complaint,” concluded the police. But the woman however stood her ground and has said that she will now take further legal steps.
Based on the enquiry and corroboration, the police has also found that John Ditto and a journalist Justin Donald had gone to the house in — in Kochi on — and taken visuals of the place. A day later, the woman had filed a complaint at the Kochi City Police Commissioner’s office. “There was no mention of place or how she got to know Balachandrakumar was not mentioned in her interviews or the complaint that she sent via post prior to this,” the report said. The police concluded that the recce of the house, where Balachandrakumar’s colleague once resided, was done to add weightage to the complaint.
Further, the police report states that as soon as Balachandrakumar raised allegations against actor Dileep, John Ditto had put social media posts supporting the latter.
The woman surfaced with her complaint soon after Balachandrakumar came out with the revelations about Dileep, forcing him to apply for anticipatory bail. It was after several hearings that the Kerala High Court granted anticipatory bail to Dileep and his close associates.
Expressing happiness that he has been given a clean chit, Balachandrakumar said that this case against him came after his revelations about Dileep. "I am happy that I have been cleared as this was a case which had no merit and it surfaced only after my revelations about Dileep," said Balachandrakumar.
The director was booked under Section 376 (i) of IPC (punishment for rape) and Section 66E of the Information Technology Act (punishment for violation of privacy).