P Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, assured every help to the actor.
The police is taking all measures to arrest the prime accused in the abduction and assault of a popular Malayalam actress in a moving car last week, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said today.
"Police action has been fruitful and necessary action has been taken," Mr Vijayan, who also holds the Home portfolio, told reporters, defending the force which has been receiving flak over delay in the arrest of key accused Pulsar Sunil.
Sunil had managed to give a slip to the police after the incident, which has sent shock waves in the state. Mr Vijayan said the state government was viewing the incident very seriously, irrespective of whether it involved an actor or anyone else, adding that stringent steps will be taken to nab all the accused.
"We need to ensure that all those responsible for the attack are arrested," he asserted.
Three persons have so far been arrested in the case, including Martin, who drove the actress on the fateful night.
Dismissing media reports that sons of a top CPI(M) leader were allegedly behind the attack on the actress, Mr Vijayan said, "In our state, people have licence to talk whatever they want. We cannot stop them."
Meanwhile, BJP and Marxist party traded barbs over the assault on the actor.
BJP alleged that one of the absconding accused V P Vijeesh had close links with CPI(M) leaders in Kannur and was a neighbour of CPI(M) Kannur district Secretary P Jayarajan, who, however, dismissed it as "false propaganda".
In a Facebook post, BJP leader M T Ramesh today alleged that Vijeesh's brother was an accused in the conspiracy relating to the murder of RSS functionary E Manoj.
Congress MLA P T Thomas also attacked the state government alleging that there were "serious lapses" in handling the sensational case.