‘Nivin Pauly was with us in Kerala,’ claim actors Vineeth Sreenivasan and Bhagath Manuel on allegations of sexual abuse

Kerala actor Nivin Pauly is among the six people accused of sexual abuse by a 40-year-old woman in Dubai. An FIR has also been registered against him.

On September 3, Malayalam actor Nivin Pauly made headlines when he was named as the sixth defendant in a case filed by a woman alleging sexual assault. He called for a press conference hours after the case was filed. He also claimed that he did not know the complainant. Actors Vineeth Sreenivasan and Bhagath Manuel now claim that Nivin was with them in Kerala when the alleged assault took place.

In an interview with Reporter Live, Vineeth stated that Nivin Pauly was with him on December 14 and 15 last year in Kochi, where they were shooting for their upcoming film. He further stated that on December 15, they were at Kochi’s ABAD Nucleus Mall till 3 am. The actor also mentioned that the accused spent that day on the sets of his upcoming serial, ‘Pharmaceutical.

Bhagath posted pictures of himself and Nivin rehearsing for the film on Instagram. On the picture he posted, he marked a timestamp and wrote in Malayalam, “Dec 14 8am to Dec 15 3am, Vineeth, Nivin and I were together. These pictures are the proof.”

Hema Commission Report

The charges were made a few weeks after the Justice K Hema Committee report, which exposed widespread sexual harassment and exploitation in the Malayalam cinema industry, was made public. The publication of the report on August 19 has caused a lot of disruption in the Malayalam cinema industry. The investigation revealed the widespread use of casting couches, lobbying and sexual harassment in the industry. Many women came forward with their stories after the investigation, accusing well-known actors and directors of sexual abuse. Among those accused of harassment are filmmakers Ranjith and Thulasidas, and actors Jayasurya, Siddique, Baburaj and Idavela Babu.