BENGALURU — Vijayalaxmi, the wife of jailed Kannada film star Darshan, on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Police Station in Bengaluru alleging harassment and abusive comments posted against her on social media.
Vijayalaxmi submitted a complaint along with screenshots and photographs against 15 Instagram accounts, citing more than 150 offensive comments. She left the cybercrime police office without speaking to the media after filing the complaint.
She also approached the Bengaluru Police Commissioner’s office, where she submitted additional screenshots of the abusive posts and details of the accounts involved, urging authorities to take action.
Officials from the cybercrime division accepted the complaint and assured her that appropriate action would be taken.
Later, Vijayalaxmi addressed the issue through an Instagram story, sharing screenshots of the abusive comments and the accounts that posted them.
“To all those who call themselves ‘class fans’, thank you for publicly displaying your level. Police complaints have been registered against these accounts. Harassment in the name of fandom will no longer be tolerated,” she wrote.
Police said there is suspicion that some of the abusive comments may have been posted by fans of actor Kichcha Sudeep, as several accounts appeared to be fan pages or carried his name or related stickers.
Authorities said the matter is being treated seriously, as it has further intensified tensions between the fan bases of Darshan and Kichcha Sudeep.
The controversy follows remarks made by Sudeep at a pre-release event for his film “Mark” in Hubballi, where he said that “a group is ready for war during his film release,” comments that were widely interpreted as being aimed at Darshan’s supporters. Vijayalaxmi later appeared to take an indirect swipe at Sudeep, saying people speak freely when Darshan is in prison but would not do so when he is out.
Sudeep subsequently clarified that his remarks were directed at those involved in film piracy. Despite the clarification, online debate continued, and the volume of abusive comments directed at Vijayalaxmi reportedly increased, prompting police action.
Darshan’s film “Devil” was released recently, with the film’s team claiming that thousands of piracy links related to the movie had been removed.
Darshan is currently lodged at Bengaluru Central Prison in connection with a high-profile fan murder case, in which trial proceedings have begun. (Source: IANS)
