The Kerala high court on Monday rejected the bail petition of the prime accused in the 2017 actor assault case, NK Sunil alias Pulsar Suni, on the ground that the bail at this juncture will affect the ongoing trial.
Pulsar Suni was arrested in connection with the alleged abduction and sexual assault of the actor on the outskirts of Kochi in February 2017. The high court rejected his bail application in March last year also. He subsequently approached the Supreme Court which told him to file a fresh plea with the high court if the trial wasn’t concluded within a reasonable time.
The actor-victim, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. Later Malayalam actor Dileep was also arraigned as an accused in the case on charges that he allegedly employed the criminal gang to settle an old score with the actor.
Suni moved the high court last month, citing the Supreme Court’s verdict of July last year. He underlined that the deadline for completing the trial has already been extended twice and that the trial court has sought more time.
Suni also stressed that he had already been in custody for nearly six years and that the trial was inordinately getting delayed because of the prosecution and other accused filing fresh petitions.
“There is no chance of the trial being concluded in near future,” he contended. But the single bench of justice PV Kunhikrishnan agreed with the contention of the prosecution that bail at this juncture will affect the ongoing trial and rejected his petition. The trial in the case is undergoing in the principal sessions court in Ernakulam.
As the trial in the case was about to end in January 2022, a new FIR was registered after Malayalam director Balachandra Kumar told the police that he met Pulsar Suni at actor Dileep’s residence in 2016 when he went to discuss a new project. He also claimed that Dileep had a video clip of the sexual assault on the actor in the car and that he once invited him to see it. He also claimed that he was privy to a conversation that took place in Dileep’s house to eliminate officials who investigated the case. In connection with this, another case was registered against Dileep, his brother, brother-in-law and two aides in January.