Malayalam director VA Shrikumar Menon has been arrested by the Alappuzha South police station in a case of financial fraud. The arrest is on a complaint filed by Rajendran Pillai who belongs to the Sreevalsam business group.
According to the police, the complaint is regarding financial transactions amounting to Rs 7 crore, dating from 2016 to the present. Rajendran Pillai has alleged that Shrikumar had taken the money to make a film but that there has been no progress with the project.
Shrikumar was taken into custody from Palakkad on May 6, and the arrest was recorded at night on the same day. He was interrogated at the Alappuzha South police station and was produced in the court at noon on May 7.
"Rajendran Pillai has a house in Alappuzha and hence the complaint was lodged at the Alappuzha South station," Sanal S, Alappuzha South Station House Officer (SHO), told TNM.
Shrikumar Menon made his directorial debut with Mohanlal's Odiyan. He has been charged under sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code.
Rajendran Pillai filed the complaint since Shrikumar was unable to provide any information on how the project was progressing. Though the director had applied for anticipatory bail, it was rejected by the court.
Earlier, actor Manju Warrier had filed a complaint with the state police chief Loknath Behera alleging that Shrikumar was trying to defame her through organised social media campaigns and by threatening her friends. In the complaint, she had also said that she feared he might endanger her life. The actor had worked with Shrikumar for his advertising agency Push Integrated Communications. He had directed several advertising campaigns in which Manju featured. She also played the female lead in Odiyan.