The special bench of Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and C. S. Sudha, hearing the matters relating to the Justice Hema Committee report, decided to appoint advocate Mitha Sudhindran to assist the court.
A Kerala Police team probing the case came searching for the actor at his two residences here but failed to find him. The two mobile numbers that the star uses were also found to be switched off.
Presently, those who are in the dock include actor-turned-CPI(M) legislator Mukesh Madhavan, Nivin Pauly, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith and Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble.
Named the Progressive Film Makers, the new organisation has Aashiq Abu, his actress wife Rima Kallingal, and popular directors Anjali Menon, Lijo Jose Perilassery, and Rajiv Ravi, among others, behind it.
Veteran actor Maniyanpilla Raju, however, got a major relief as the charges against him are available and hence, his anticipatory bail plea was allowed by the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court.
Siddique, the former General Secretary of the AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) who moved the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a rape case filed against him by an actress.
The Vijayan government has been facing flak since the long-delayed report came out and the situation was exacerbated when two leading film personalities had to step down from their posts when two different women actors came forward to accuse them of sexual harassment.
