New Delhi: Martin Antony, the second accused in the 2017 actress assault case, has been granted bail by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The SC bench comprising justices Ajay Rastogi and AS Oka allowed the bail.
Martin has been jailed for the last five years. Other accused in the case have already been granted bail. It is not clear when the trial will be over, the Bench stated.
It was in a car driven by Martin the actress had left her house on the fateful day in February 2017.
The prosecution had opposed Martin's bail plea arguing that the crime would have not occurred if he was not complicit. Moreover, the accused in the case, including first accused Pulsar Suni, would now seek bail, citing Martin's.
The SC judges rejected the plea of Kerala government counsels demanding stringent conditions for bail. It also rejected their demand not to allow bail until the conclusion of the probe into the related conspiracy case that was registered recently following a complaint filed by a cop who had investigated the rape case. His complaint was based on a purported audio clip of Dileep, which was telecast by a TV channel, in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to harm the official. Filmmaker Balachandrakumar had handed over the clip to the investigators.
Senior advocate Ranjith Kumar and standing counsel Nishe Rajan Shonkar represented the prosecution in the apex court.
