The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to cancel the anticipatory bail granted by the High Court to Malayalam actor-producer Vijay Babu in an alleged rape case, and asked him not to leave Kerala without prior permission.
A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J.K. Maheshwari modified certain bail conditions imposed on Babu by the High Court and said that he could be interrogated by the police in connection with the case after July 3, if required.
The bench also asked him not to influence any witness or tamper with any evidence and not to harass the victim with any social media posts.
On Tuesday, the bench had agreed to hear pleas of the Kerala government and the actress, who alleged rape by Babu, challenging the grant of anticipatory bail to him by the High Court.
On June 22, the High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Babu.
The High Court had granted Babu relief subject to the conditions that he shall “surrender” before the investigating officer (IO) on June 27 for interrogation.
He could be interrogated for the next seven days from then till July 3, it had said.
The police had opposed his plea, saying the practice of filing applications for bail sitting outside the country should not be entertained.
The court had not accepted the contention as it was of the view that an application for pre-arrest bail could be filed even by a person residing outside the country.
In his plea before the high court, Babu had alleged that the rape case has been filed to blackmail him.
