Actor Manju Warrier lodges police complaint against director Menon alleging threat to life
Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 23: Popular Malayalam actress Manju Warrier has lodged a police complaint against ad filmmaker-turned director Shrikumar Menon for allegedly threatening and defaming her through social media.
Menon, who had helmed the advertisements of several popular brands with Warrier in the lead role, entered tinsel town last year by directing the Mohanlal-Manju Warrier starrer "Odiyan", which failed to take off at the box office.
State police chief Loknath Behera on Tuesday confirmed here that he had received the "Asuran" actress' complaint and said necessary action would be taken after examining the complaint in detail.
However, his office was tight-lipped about the content of the complaint.
"The complaint, received by the DGP, has been handed over to a special investigation team for further action," an official at the police headquarters here told PTI.
According to local media reports, the award-winning actress levelled grave charges against Shrikumar Menon and one of his journalist friends.
She alleged that the director had threatened her and some of her close friends and tried to defame her by orchestrating a hate campaign against her on the social media, the reports said.
It also said that Warrier had handed over some digital evidence to the investigators to prove her point.
However, Shrikumar Menon, in a Facebook post, said he came to know about the police complaint only through media reports and he would cooperate with the investigation.
Unleashing a scathing attack against the actress, he said she had forgotten all the help and support he had offered during her second coming in the Malayalam industry after several years.
He also alleged that she had only Rs 1,500 in her account when she had left her home and it was he who had given her a cheque of Rs 25 lakh as advance payment of her first advertisement.
The actress has also sent a letter to the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) about her police complaint against Menon and sought the support of the outfit.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
