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Actor-legislator Mukesh got a brief respite of five days from being arrested in the rape case.
The District and Sessions Court, Ernakulam, directed the investigation officer in the case on Thursday not to arrest him till September 3 after noting that there was no chance of him fleeing from the clutches of law. The order was issued by Judge Honey M. Varghese in an anticipatory bail plea moved by the actor.
A woman actor had filed a complaint with the Special Investigation Team probing the allegations of sexual harassment by a few actors of Malayalam cinema following the release of the Hema committee report, which touched upon the harassment faced by women in cinema.
The actor, represented by lawyer Geo Paul, submitted that he was ready to cooperate with the investigation and to appear before the investigation officer. He informed the court that he was not even in a position to contact his lawyer to appraise him of the factual situation of the case and to hand over relevant materials following the apprehension of the arrest.
The prosecution case is that the petitioner sexually exploited the victim by offering membership in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists and chances to act in movies.
The actor contended that the victim gave the statements with malafide intentions. The alleged incident occurred in 2009 and the present crime is registered after the lapse of 15 years with ulterior motives and to tarnish his political and film career, the actor argued.
Mr. Mukesh produced before the court an e-mail reportedly sent by the victim on March 7, 2009, in which she allegedly expressed her happiness to him for being decent and kind to her. She had also volunteered to intervene in the marital issues of the actor, he informed the court.
The actor also produced a copy of the WhatsApp chats allegedly sent by the victim demanding ₹ 1 lakh and her bank account details.
Mr. Mukesh feared that he would suffer irreparable loss, injury and hardships in the event of him being arrested and remanded into custody.
He informed the court that he was ready to undergo any conditions imposed by the court and ready to cooperate with the police in any investigation to be conducted by them.
