​​​​​​​AHP & Bajrang Dal allegedly trash 'Minnal Murali' film church set; Kerala CM to act

A massive shooting set of a church built for Malayalam movie 'Minnal Murali' was vandalised by a group of people at Kalady in Kerala's Ernakulam district on Sunday evening. Taking to their social media handles, several members of Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP) and Bajrang Dal claimed responsibility for destroying the shooting set. The Kerala police has arrested one person in connection with the incident.

''A person named Ratheesh was arrested on Monday in the incident. He is one of the workers of AHP. We are tracing another four persons who were involved,'' Perumbavoor Police said.

The 'Minnal Murali' team had built a set of a church on the banks of the Periyar river in Kalady, that stood on the opposite side of Adi Sankaracharya mutt. The makers had sought necessary permission from the Gram Panchayat and related authorities for building the set.

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CM Vijayan assures strict action

Taking cognizance of the matter, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that strict action will be taken against the perpetrators.

''Kerala will never be a place where fanatics of any kind would be allowed to go scot-free. All of you can be rest assured that all those who destroyed the film set near Kochi will be tackled as per law. What is wrong if a film set remains there, as we all know that due to COVID-19, all film shootings came to a sudden halt. These acts will not be tolerated,'' he said.

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Aluva Shivaratri Manappuram Samithi, the owner of the land on which the set was built, filed a complaint with the Perumbavoor Police.

''The film production company had also applied to Aluva Shivaratri Manappuram Samithi for the permission to shoot. The shooting could not be completed due to lockdown. Yesterday, (Sunday) a group of people destroyed the set. Many items were stolen from here. So, we filed a complaint with the police. We have also given statements to the police,'' Subin Kumar, Aluva Shivaratri Manappuram Samithi, said.

Taking to Facebook, State general secretary of AHP stated that the Minnal Murali's church set was built close to Adi Sankaracharya mutt, which is why it was vandalised.

It took about two years for the pre-production of 'Minnal Murali' and the set was the pivotal part of the movie, as some important scenes were supposed to be shot there. The shooting of the film remains postponed due to lockdown.

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