Minutes after Malayalam actor Dileep was acquitted in the 2017 actor assault case, journalist of Reporter TV, R Roshipal, was heckled in the court premises in Kochi. Roshipal, who has been consistently reporting on the case, had been the first to telecast an interview with late filmmaker Balachandra Kumar, a key witness whose revelations in 2021 became crucial evidence for the prosecution against Dileep.
Fans of Dileep confronted Roshipal after the verdict, raising questions and directing expletives at the journalist. The mob of fans then resorted to sloganeering and booing.
When they asked him where he had received his reports from, Roshipal responded that he would continue to stand with justice. “We are with her [the survivor],” he asserted, after which there was further heckling of the reporter.
Reacting to the incident, senior Malayalam journalist MV Nikesh Kumar remembered Balachandra Kumar, whose significant revelations had been a turning point in the case.
“Balachandra Kumar had texted me and then called me on the phone. He said he had approached many channels who had talked to him and then passed his statement over to the accused. People have had a chance to understand the full truth.”
Balachandra Kumar had also given interviews to TNM, sharing the evidence he had, linking the first accused, Pulsar Suni, to Dileep.
Balachandra Kumar had passed away from physical ailments in December 2024.