Director Ranjith appears before the police in connection with an alleged sexual assault

Bangalore:

Malayalam director Ranjith Balakrishnan has been booked on sexual assault charges – based on a complaint filed on Saturday in Bengaluru by a 31-year-old man – as the #MeToo wave continues to grip the Kerala film industry after the release of the Justice Commission report K Hema was released.

The man claims that the filmmaker sexually assaulted him in a five-star hotel in the city. He said he met Ranjith in Kozhikode (Calicut) when the film ‘Bavuttiyude Namathil’ was being shot.

The police case states that in December 2012, Ranjith invited a man to a hotel near Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, where he offered him alcohol and then sexually assaulted him.

Three-time National Film Award winner Ranjith, 60, was also accused of sexual assault by a Bengali actress who lodged a complaint with the Kochi police commissioner.