Bail plea of accused in actor rape case rejected

They have been in custody for 4 years

The bail applications of three accused in the 2017 actor rape case were turned down by the special court here on Monday.

The applications of Sunilkumar, Vijeesh, and Manikandan, who are in custody for over four years, were rejected as the court found that nothing had changed to entertain their bail applications, which had been rejected earlier.

The continuation of the accused in custody was required as the examination of the witnesses was not complete.

Only 80 witnesses had been examined so far and the prosecution had scheduled the examination of 116 others in the coming days. The trial had to be completed by March 17, this year, special judge Honey M. Varghese said.

It appeared, the court noted, that two of the accused had played a significant role in the abduction and helping the first accused rape the victim in a moving car. They were also instrumental in recording the crime on a mobile phone.

The court may pronounce its order on the plea of the prosecution to cancel the bail granted to actor Dileep, the eighth accused in the case, on January 21.