Kerala High Court on Tuesday granted interim pre-arrest bail to actor-cum-producer Vijay Babu in the sexual assault case registered against him until the next hearing date.
The Court will again take up this matter on June 2.
While hearing the matter on Tuesday, Single Bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas noted that "If I refuse to grant him interim bail now, he will remain abroad and elusive. How many people have been elusive in our country? Several agencies have been trying, but have they been successful? This is what I'm trying to avoid here."
The bench said the accused has been granted two days of interim bail with protection so that he could return to India.
"I want to see if the accused has any bonafide. I'll grant him a maximum of two days of interim bail with protection. Let him come down to the jurisdiction of this Court. After that, if I dismiss this, you can nab him. You don't have to go to CBI or Interpol," he added.
"I don't understand why your Investigating Officer is so set on him not returning to India. Is he working with the accused? I think I am inclined to grant interim relief. I want him here in Kerala before I consider this case," Thomas noted.
He said, he doesn't appreciate the conduct of fleeting the country but the accused is willing to come to India, therefore, he was given to one chance.
"If you were really working for the interest of the victim, you would want him to come down. That is what any proper investigation team would want. I'm not appreciating his conduct of fleeing the country as soon as he knew a crime was registered against him. But now that he is willing to come down, I want to give him a chance," Thomas noted.
Earlier the accused informed the court that he will come down to Kerala on June 1 from Dubai.
There are two cases registered against him. One is the sexual assault case and the other one is for disclosing the identity of the complainant through social media.
( With inputs from ANI )
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