CK Vineeth. (Getty Images)

KOCHI: The uneasy relationship between Kannur lad CK Vineeth and Manjappada, the Kerala Blasters fan group, took another ugly turn as the footballer filed a police complaint against a section of the group over cyber-attack on Sunday.

Vineeth lodged the grievance with the Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner of Police PS Suresh after members of the fan group circulated a WhatsApp voice clip alleging Vineeth had bullied a ball boy during the match between his parent club Blasters and Chennaiyin FC , the club he has been presently loaned out to, at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium here on Friday night. Acting on Vineeth's complaint, the ACP has summoned two members of Manjappada, Bichu and Prabhu, to his office on Tuesday.

The alleged incident happened in the first half of the match when the ball went out for a throw-in. As per the voice clip sent in a WhatsApp group by a member of Manjappada, who was watching the match at the venue, Vineeth was yelling at the ball boy for not releasing the ball faster and used some cuss words that left the latter in tears. One of the match officials also rebuked Vineeth, as per the version of the fan.

Vineeth, however, refuted such claims by the fans. "This is a lie. I did not react in such a way and also no match official [ambassador] summoned me after the match. This is an attempt to destroy my career. The fans have been behaving like this way for far too long. They have been rude against all players, especially Kerala players," said the 30-year-old who had time and again come out public against the volatile nature of the Blasters fans during his time with the club.

"They are not the No. 1 fans in the country. They may be the largest in terms of number of fans but they are not No. 1 in terms of support for the team," added Vineeth.

Blasters loaned out Vineeth to Chennaiyin during the Asian Cup break of Indian Super League season 2018-19. But the player said he had wanted to stay till the end of the season. "I wanted to see out my contract. When we went for a mid-season break, I thought I would be coming back to play here. Then I ended up in Chennaiyin," said Vineeth suggesting the decision to loan him out was taken against his will.

Vineeth moved to Blasters from Bengaluru FC on a permanent move at the start of the 2017-18 ISL season after playing two season for the club on loan. Vineeth has scored the most number of goals for Blasters since the inception of the franchise.

