"As of now, we have six FIRs registered against the accused," Kochi City Police Commissioner said
A popular Kochi-based tattoo artist was arrested by the Kerala Police on Sunday over allegations of rape, sexual assault, and molestation made by at least 6 women - all his former clients. He has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
The complaints were filed after the social media post of an 18-year-old woman went viral, recounting her horrendous experience at the Sujeesh PS's tattoo studio - Inkfected Tattoo Studio.
The woman alleged she was raped while the artist continued tattooing her with a needle on her spine. The woman, according to the police, has not filed a complaint.
However, after the viral post, several other women, took to social media to recount their sexual abuse experiences by the same tattoo artist in the last few years.
"We will be taking the 164 statements of the complainants starting tomorrow. As of now, we have six FIRs registered against the accused, who was initially on the run. All are non-bailable offenses. And surrendered only after he was cornered by the police from all sides," Kochi City Police Commissioner CH Nagaraju told NDTV.
"It's not a one-off complaint. We are getting a lot of complaints. There are so many other tattoo studios. We haven't got complaints against them. All complaints are against this one particular person. Even if the complaints are about incidents from before, we still have means to probe them, including oral evidences and how the complainant would have felt or shared details with her trusted family members or friends, after the ordeal. Because all this is happening within the confines of closed four walls," Mr Nagaraju added.
The police said he surrendered late Saturday night and was initially taken to the Cheranalloor police station for questioning.
In a separate case, Liju Krishna, the director of the upcoming Malayalam film Padavettu, was also arrested on Sunday from Kerala's Kannur after being accused of rape.
"Liju Krishna has been arrested under section 376 IPC. We cannot give out any details of the complainant, but she isn't from the film industry as such. Instead, [she] is someone well known to him," a police officer told NDTV.
The debutant film director will be produced before the magistrate in Kochi on Monday, the police said.