An inquiry against police officers probing the case of Malayalam actor Sreejith Ravi accused of sexually harassing children in Ottapalam has revealed that there was laxity on the part of the police. The actor was arrested for allegedly exposing his private parts to girl students.
The inquiry was carried out by Ottapalam sub-collector PB Nooh on the directive of Palakkad collector P Marykutty.
PB Nooh told The News Minute that he was directed by the district collector to carry out an inquiry against the officers after parents of the complainants approached the district collector.
“I was directed to begin an inquiry on Wednesday 31st August, and preliminary inquiry does show that the police officers tried to protect the accused by discouraging the parents when they lodged the complaint,” he said.
The sub-collector will submit the inquiry report to the collector in two days’ time.
A complaint against a man who flashed his private parts to a group of girl students in Ottapalam was filed on August 27. Though the complaint hadn’t named the actor, it mentioned the vehicle number that belonged to the actor.
The police, while filing the FIR did not name the actor claiming that his name did not feature in the complaint.
However, allegations against police officers for trying to protect the actor, an influential personality, soon surfaced.
Sreejith Ravi, who has been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, had initially denied that it was him in the car. He claimed that though the vehicle number mentioned in the complaint belonged to him, the students might have made a mistake while noting down the vehicle’s number.
The Ottapalam police took him to custody from a shooting location in Palakkad on Thursday, and recorded his arrest on Friday after the students identified the actor at an identification parade using photographs.
Palakkad additional district sessions court granted him conditional bail on Friday.