Ninth accused in actor assault case sentenced to life in POCSO case

Sanal Kumar.
Sanal Kumar. Photo: Special arrangement

Kochi: Pathanamthitta native Sanal Kumar, who is the ninth accused in the actor assault case, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) case.

The Ernakulam POCSO court also slapped a fine of Rs 1,25,000 on the 45-year-old accused.

Judge K Soman found Sanal Kumar guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in 2013. The accused abducted the girl from Ernakulam, locked her up in a lodge at Pazhani and sexually assaulted her several times, as per the prosecution case.

After the girl went missing, her father lodged a complaint with the police. The cops nabbed the accused within four days and rescued the girl.

The accused was released on bail in the case, but went absconding. He was later arrested in a marriage fraud case, registered with the Maradu police. While he was in remand at the jail, he met N S Sunil Kumar (aka Pulsar Suni) who is the prime accused in the actor assault case.

Sanal Kumar had allegedly helped Pulsar Suni to call director Nadirshah’s phone to speak to actor Dileep and to hide the mobile phone used to make calls from the jail, as per the case. The probe team had recovered this phone from Sanal Kumar's house. With this, Sanal Kumar was arraigned as the ninth accused in the actor assault case. 

Kalamassery inspector M B Latheef submitted the charge-sheet in the POCSO case. Special public prosecutor P A Bindu and advocate Sarun Mankara appeared for the prosecution.

Conspiracy case: Sarath gets anticipatory bail

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court has granted anticipatory bail to Sarath, sixth accused in the conspiracy case. Sarath is also a friend of actor Dileep.

The case was registered following director Balachandra Kumar's allegation that Dileep and other accused had hatched a conspiracy to endanger the officers probing the actor assault case.

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.