Man arrested for alleged attempt to extort and defame actor-director Balachandra Menon

The Kochi City Cyber Crime police have arrested a man accused in the case registered in connection with an alleged attempt to extort actor-director Balachandra Menon and tarnish him over social media.

The arrested was identified as Sangeeth Luis, 46, a native of Kundara in Kollam and now residing at Ayyanthole in Thrissur.

The police said he was an accused in several cases. He was under the surveillance of the police for a while and was arrested in the early-morning hours of Thursday (August 7, 2025).

The incident pertaining to the case took place last September. He was declared an offender under the Kerala Anti-social Activities (Prevention) Act and arrested on preventive grounds by the Kundara police in 2023, the police said.

The police had arrested the other accused in the case, actor Minnu Muneer, 45, after she surrendered at the station on June 30, 2025.

She surrendered at the Cyber Crime police station after the Kerala High Court dismissed her anticipatory bail plea and directed her to appear before the police. Later, she was released on bail as per the direction of the High Court.

The case was registered on October 2, 2024. The accused were booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation), the IT Act Sections 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form), and the Kerala Police Act 120 (o) (causing, through any means of communication, a nuisance of himself to any person by repeated or undesirable or anonymous call, letter, writing, message, e-mail or through a messenger).

According to the FIR, Ms. Muneer consistently made derogatory posts against the petitioner, posted the photo of the petitioner and instigated vulgar comments. The second accused allegedly made threatening calls to the petitioner on September 13 and 14, 2024.

The alleged posts came shortly after the release of the Hema Committee report on the alleged atrocities against woman in the film industry.