Popular Malayalam actor-producer Vijay Babu has been absconding after a rape case was booked against him based on a complaint from a woman actor. The Kerala police have intensified their search and issued a lookout notice. While he appeared on a Facebook live video on Tuesday- April 26, his whereabouts remain to be unknown. 

According to reports, a rape case was booked against Vijay Babu in Ernakulam, Kerala. After learning that a case has been filed, the actor went to a hideout following which the police zeroed in to trace him. It has been reported that after the lookout notice was issued against him, the searches have begun outside Kerala. In her complaint, a woman actor has accused Vijay Babu of raping her while she sought the opportunities to act in the movie. 

While the police are searching for him, Vijay Babu had appeared on Facebook Live on Tuesday during which he had apparently broken the law by revealing the name of the woman actor who filed the case against him. In the video, he claimed that he respects the law of the land and said, "Here I am the victim and my name has come out. So why shouldn't the other party's name come out too." He then publicly shared the name of the female actor. 

Vijay Babu went on to say that the female actor had won the chance to act in one of his movies through an audition and he had never chatted with her. He further said that the woman had begun messaging him towards the end of the last year, and he met her this March. He said that he is ready to release nearly 400 screenshots of the messages and added that he will file a counter case of defamation. 

While the woman had accused him of raping and torturing her, Vijay Babu hasn't made any comments regarding the allegation. The police had said that the alleged rape had happened in the month of April and the woman had been subjected to a medical test. The complaint has been filed against Vijay Babu on April 22 and the female actor has said that Babu had assaulted and sexually exploited her for a month from March 13 to April 14, 2022. 

The female actor has said, "He (Babu) behaved like my saviour for my personal and professional problems but sexually exploited me." She further said that Vijay Babu had hit her in her stomach when she refused to have sex with him. "I was too traumatized to realize what was happening at that time but today I realise I was raped", she stated, adding that Vijay Babu had recorded a nude video of her and begun to threaten her.

"I can't take this pain anymore. I strongly believe I will get justice. No one should go through this pain and trauma in their life", she added. She has alleged that all these assaults have happened at Vijay Babu's apartment in Ernakulam, with the promise that he would provide better opportunities to her in the cinema industry.

Based on her complaint, the Ernakulam South police had registered a case against Vijay Babu on April 22 following which the actor has gone absconding. The case has been filed under sections 376 - sexual assault, 506 - criminal intimidation, and 323 - voluntarily causing hurt of the Indian Penal Code. It must be noted that a few years ago, actor and co-producer Sandra Thomas had filed an assault case against Vijay Babu. However, it was later withdrawn.