Kochi: Actor Vijay Babu, who had sought time till May 19 to appear before Kerala police for questioning in a case related to the alleged rape of a debutante actress, has been denied permission for the same by the investigating team.
The police gave the actor-producer, who is currently in Dubai, an ultimatum to surrender immediately, failing which, he would have to be apprehended.
Babu was earlier served a summons to appear before the investigation officers, for which he had sough more time.
The notice – under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code – was sent to Babu by email as he is not in town. A hard copy of the notice was also handed over by the police to the actor’s wife at his house in Kochi.
Meanwhile, police are yet to decide on travelling to Dubai to take the celebrity into custody. "We need to seek more legal opinion before resorting to such a move," said an officer.
In 2020 the Supreme Court had ruled that serving notices and summons through emails as well as instant messaging services like Whatsapp and Telegram would be legally valid.
Vijay Babu was accused by a young actress of sexual assault in a MeToo revelation through Facebook. He had later come on Facebook Live to talk about the allegation, calling him the real victim and revealing the complainant's name in the process, for which another case was slapped on him.
