Kochi: Ernakulam North Police have registered a case against actress Lakshmi Menon and three others for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting a young IT employee in Kochi.
The case has been registered based on a complaint filed by the techie from Aluva, who was kidnapped and assaulted. Three accused persons have been arrested by the police already and they will arrest Menon, who is currently on the run. The arrested accused are Mithun, Aneesh and Sonamol, all residents of Kochi and Menon’s friends. 

The incident pertaining to the case happened on Sunday night at Ernakulam North railway overbridge, from where the accused persons kidnapped the complainant. The police said that the kidnapping was in retaliation for an argument between the complainant’s friend and the actress’s gang at a restobar in Kochi around 11 pm on Sunday. 

"The actress and three others followed the complainant and friends' car and blocked them on the bridge. They had an argument there, and one of the accused persons forcibly pulled the complainant into their car and sped away. They assaulted, threatened and verbally abused him in the car until they dropped him off at Vedimara junction in Paravur around midnight on Monday. We immediately picked him up from there, and based on his complaint, we later arrested three of the accused. The actress’ phone is switched off and she is on the run. We are tracing her and she will be arrested,” said North Police sources. 

Charges including kidnapping, wrongful restraint, verbal abuse, wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation etc. have been slapped on the accused under sections 140(2),126, 296,127(2),115(2), 351(2), 3(5) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). 

The complainant, who requested to conceal his identity, told Onmanorama that the issue began in front of the restaurant when his friend questioned the actress’s friend, who reportedly created a ruckus following an argument with one of their friends. 

“They were inebriated and started shouting at my friend. We immediately pulled him back and left the place to avoid further escalation. However, they followed us, blocked our car on the North overbridge and one of them started hitting our car. When I got out and tried to pacify them, they kidnapped me and assaulted me. The actress snatched my phone and verbally abused me,” he said.