Cine actor Kalabhavan Mani on Friday surrendered to the police in a case related to allegedly assaulting forest officials at Athirappilly.
The Athirappilly police produced him before the Chalakudy First Class Magistrate Court and he was granted bail. The Kerala High Court had on Thursday set conditions for the bail. He was made to execute a bond for Rs.50,000 with two solvent sureties.
The High Court had also directed Mani to report before the police as and when demanded by the investigation officer. The court had warned him against intimidating any witnesses or making any attempt to destroy the evidence.
Mani surrendered at the Athirappilly police station around 1.45 p.m. The police recorded his statement, arrested him, and took him to the Vettilappara Primary Health Centre for medical examination. Chalakudy Circle Inspector V. T. Shaji and sub-inspector E.V. Aravindakshan were present. Mani was produced before the court around 3 p.m. A large crowd had gathered at the court. Sijo Chacko and Cherian Geevarghese were the counsel for the actor. Mani had reached Athirappilly from a filming location at Gudallur via Palakkad. His friends accompanied him.
The police had charged Mani under Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from doing his duty), 294 (b) (using obscene words) and 506 (i) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the police, two forest officials were assaulted by Mani at Kannankuzhi near Athirappilly on the night of May 14. Range Officer U.G. Ramesan and Beat Forester P. Raveendran had sustained injuries in the hands, chest, legs and eyes, and were hospitalised.
The officials told the police they had stopped a car in which Mani and his friends were travelling as part of routine inspection. Mani protested, returned around 20 minutes later, and assaulted them, the officials complained. On the basis of a complaint lodged by Jaya Gopinath, wife of Maliyekkal Gopinath, the police also registered a case against the two forest officials. She stated she was travelling in the car with her husband and Mani, and alleged that the officials verbally abused her and misbehaved with her.
