A day after the Kerala High Court said it will consider Malayalam movie producer and actor Vijay Babu's plea for anticipatory bail only after he produces tickets indicating when he is going to return to India, his counsel has submitted the stipulated tickets.
“We have produced flight tickets stating actor Vijay Babu’s return from Dubai to Kochi on 30 May, in the High Court today,” S Rajeev, the actor’s counsel told The Quint on Tuesday.
Rajeev refused to confirm if the actor will indeed return to Kerala on the said date. Meanwhile, sources have confirmed that the hearing for the anticipatory bail plea will be scheduled for Wednesday. The counsel will be producing the detailed travel documents on Wednesday in the court.
The lawyer also claimed that Babu was ready to appear before the investigating officer.
Vijay Babu has been accused of sexually assaulting a female actor. The founder of the production company Friday Film House, had claimed innocence and disclosed the survivor's name and identity, which is an offence, and so another case was also slapped on him.
Babu Claims Innocence in His Bail Plea
The producer-actor has alleged in his plea that the rape case has been filed against him to blackmail him. There is a "trend" of making sexual allegations against anybody to tarnish the image of a person who is having popularity in the society and for the sake of publicity, he alleged.
He claimed that he was innocent and was "highly aggrieved" by the one-sided approach of the authorities to make him a "scapegoat for the purpose of news and the media."
"Now the attempt of the de facto complainant is to blackmail the petitioner by simply filing the complaint alleging that the petitioner forcefully sexually assaulted her," Babu said in his plea.
Vijay Babu Has Returned to Dubai from Georgia
Since the police charged him with rape following the woman's complaint, Babu has been reportedly absconding.
Babu had fled to Dubai as soon as he got wind of the complaint, police said. He was in hiding in Dubai but after the Union External Affairs Ministry annulled the validity of his passport, he reportedly left for Georgia. The country does not have an extradition treaty with India. Assessing the situation, the Kerala Police established contact with the Embassy in Armenia and alerted the airports about chances of his escape.
However, the Kochi City Police had moved to issue a Red Corner Notice against Vijay Babu after the High Court did not grant him anticipatory bail.
Steps were being taken to get the Interpol to issue a Red Corner notice against the accused, police said. The police had warned of such a move if Vijay Babu did not surrender by 24 May.
Babu had reportedly informed the police that he was on a business tour and will return home on Tuesday.
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