Thiruvananthapuram: The six-day long embarrassment of Kerala police over its inability to arrest the two key suspects in the case of waylaying and attacking a popular Malayalam movie actress ended on Thursday, but big questions about the abduction attempt remain.
‘Pulsar’ Suni and K.P. Vijeesh, the two key accused in the case, were arrested inside a courtroom in Kochi on Thursday, where they had gone to surrender, but the onus is now on police to fish out from them the real motive behind their attack on the actress.
The actress had been on her way home to Kochi from a shooting location, in Thrissur last Friday night, when the attackers followed her in another vehicle, hit her vehicle from behind and then boarded her vehicle, before harassing her.
Police now need to unravel the mysteries regarding who had plotted the entire project, and what their objective was.
The questioning of the two accused was expected to expose some skeletons in the Malayalam film industry, with reports indicating that the industry has for long been using thugs to settle disputes, protect physical assets and sometimes to threaten rivals.
The actress had told the police after her ordeal that she overheard the attackers say they were part of a ‘quotation’ gang, a terminology used in Kerala for gangs that undertake criminal assignments for money.
Police now need to understand from Suni and Vijeesh why they had carried out the attack on the actress. Two of the big questions are: On whose directive had they undertaken the assignment of threatening the actress, and what was the motive behind threatening her?
Police are also investigating whether Suni and his accomplices had attacked the actress on their own, for their own benefit.
The Malayalam film industry, meanwhile, is hoping that the increasing influence of such gangs in the industry will also be nipped after this episode exposes the dangerous trends that have crept into the movie sector in recent years.
