KOCHI: Objecting to the anticipatory bail petitions, police on Monday submitted at the Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Court that CPM MLA and actor M Mukesh, actor Maniyanpilla Raju and Advocate V S Chandrashekar have to be questioned in custody as part of the probe into rape and molestation cases registered following the MeToo allegations in Mollywood. Actor Edavela Babu who is also facing rape charges filed an anticipatory bail petition at the court on Monday.
Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Judge Honey M Varghese heard the counsels of Mukesh, Raju and Chandrasekhar behind closed doors adopting in-camera proceedings. Before the petitions were considered, the judge announced that she would be hearing the petitions only under in-camera proceedings. Even though the court had decided to hear the anticipatory bail of Raju on September 6, his counsel filed a petition requesting to hear him on Monday itself.
The hearing that started at noon continued till 2.30pm. Before this, the prosecution filed an affidavit objecting to the anticipatory bail petitions of the accused persons. Later, the prosecution also submitted case diaries to the court. The diaries included a confidential statement given by the victim before a magistrate last week.
In the report and during the following hearing, the prosecution maintained that custodial interrogation of Mukesh and two others was imminent in the case. As the investigation in the case had just started, anticipatory bail should not be granted, said the prosecution, which also raised apprehensions about the destruction of evidence and influencing witnesses, if pre-arrest bail was granted to them.
Representing Mukesh, Advocate Geo Paul handed over copies of chats between the complainant, who is also an actor, in a sealed cover. “We have also given chats and video clips of news regarding the incident in the sealed cover to the court. As we pointed out in our petition, there were incidents alleged by the victim against Mukesh. It is clear from the chats between Mukesh and the victim which we have produced before the court,” he said.
The court has decided to continue hearing anticipatory petitions again on Tuesday. The prosecution would be giving further updates about the investigation carried out by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the cases against Mukesh and others. There are separate cases of rape and molestation registered against Mukesh and six others including Jayasurya, Raju and Edavela Babu on the complaint of the actor who worked in Malayalam and Tamil films.