Kochi: A 35-year-old man has been arrested by the Maradu Police in Ernakulam, on charges of repeatedly stalking and harassing Malayalam actress Parvathy Thiruvoth. The man has been booked under section 354 D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) according to the Circle Inspector of Maradu Police Station.
The unidentified stalker had repeatedly visited the actress' residences in Ernakulam and Kozhikode on multiple occasions, which prompted her to file a complaint with the police, media reports alleged. The News Minute reported that he had made several attempts to enter Parvathy's family home in Kozhikode, each time arriving with food parcels and getting into fights with the security official who rebuffed him.
Parvathy had also earlier been stalked by a man claiming to be a lawyer and who persistently called and messaged her parents and relatives to claim that her life was in danger due to members of a 'mafia'. 48-year-old Kishore Balan, a native of Nenmara in Palakkad, was nabbed by police in December 2019 and charged with sections 354 D (Stalking) of the Indian Penal Code and 120 (o) (Penalty for causing nuisance and violation of public order.
Police said that Kishore was a habitual offender who had been caught for cheating cases in the past.
Parvathy has previously lambasted stalking as a serious crime that affected many women and was not taken seriously. In July of this year, a 24-year-old home surgery student in Kothamangalam, Manasa, was shot dead by a stalker who rented a room near her residence to stalk her.