Veteran Malayalam actor Siddique, who is being investigated for sexually harassing an actor in 2016, had booked a room at the Thiruvananthapuram Mascot Hotel, police found. The guest establishment’s register showed that Siddique had checked in on January 28, 2016, which matches the time period mentioned by the survivor in her complaint.
After the publication of the Hema Committee report, a young actress accused Siddique of sexual misconduct in 2016.
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The complainant had stated that she was sexually harassed by the actor during a movie preview in January or February 2016. The data collected by the body confirmed that the preview did indeed take place and Siddique was present at the event, a ManoramaOnline report said.
The Kerala police will record statements of hotel staff, parents of the survivor and other attendees of the preview as part of the investigation against Siddique, the news report added.
According to the survivor, she was 21 years old when the senior actor invited her to the Mascot Hotel for a meeting. Siddique is accused of sexually abusing the woman in his room and then locking her up. She later managed to escape and was deliberately not let out, the complaint says. According to her complainant, many women in the industry have had similar “bad experiences” with Siddique.
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The Thiruvananthapuram Museum Police are investigating Siddique under IPC 376 and 506 for raping the woman. The 61-year-old actor had resigned from his post as general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors (AMMA) after the allegations surfaced.
