The Kerala Police’s Cyberwing has booked several Malayalam YouTube news channels, some focussing on the film industry, for allegedly broadcasting defamatory statements and videos against veteran actor and director Balachandra Menon.  Mr. Menon had petitioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and State Police Chief Sheikh Darvesh Saheb on Saturday (September 28, 2024), stating that he was the target of a blackmail and defamation bid by an actor and a person claiming to be her lawyer.  Mr. Menon stated that a person claiming to be the woman’s lawyer had approached him seeking an amicable settlement involving a significant amount of money as a quid pro quo for the woman not raising accusations of sexual exploitation against him on conventional and social media.  The caller also threatened to file at least three criminal miscellaneous petitions against Mr. Menon in magistrate courts seeking registration of first information reports on the charge of sexual assaulting the actor if the movie maker did not comply with the duo’s demands.  In his complaint, Mr. Menon said that calls from various numbers beset …