Kerala police give clean chit to actor Nivin Pauly in rape case

Kochi: Kerala police said on Wednesday that Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly was not found guilty in a rape case registered against him following a complaint lodged by a woman.

The actor was accused of sexually assaulting the woman over a year ago in Dubai.

During the investigation, it was found that Pauly was not present at the location on the particular date and time as alleged by the woman, police said.

The Deputy SP who investigated the case, recently submitted a report in a local court here excluding the name of the actor from the list of accused.

The development came into the public domain on Wednesday.

A senior officer said the investigators have verified various documents and found that they didn’t match the statements of the complainant.

“We have verified his emigration details, passport and other travel documents, credit card transaction and so on. But, the documents did not match the claims of the complainant. There was no evidence to prove that the actor was present in the location as claimed by her,” the officer told PTI.

However, the investigation against other accused would continue, the officer added.

The “Thattathin marayath” actor had been booked in September by Oonnukal police under section 376 of the IPC.

The first accused was a woman and Pauly was the sixth accused, the officer said.

The actor had strongly denied the allegations and said that he was suspecting a conspiracy behind the charges.

Pauly is among the many actors and directors who are facing allegations of sexual harassment or rape by female actors following the recent publication of the Justice K Hema Committee report.

The committee was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case and its report reveals instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry.

Following the allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation cropping up against several actors and directors, the state government on August 25 announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team to probe them.