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Kochi hotel owner surrenders in Pocso case
The second accused and Vayalat’s accomplice Shaiju M Thankachan is still at large. Earlier, the high court (HC) had granted pre-arrest bail to third accused Anjali Reema Dev.
A day after the Supreme Court refused to entertain his anticipatory bail plea, the owner of Kochi-based luxury Hotel No 18 — Roy J Vayalat — who is facing a sexual assault case under the Prevention of Children From Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, surrendered before the police on Sunday. A senior Kochi police officer said Vayalat will be produced before the court on Monday and they will seek his custody.
The second accused and Vayalat’s accomplice Shaiju M Thankachan is still at large. Earlier, the high court (HC) had granted pre-arrest bail to third accused Anjali Reema Dev.
A Supreme Court bench comprising justice Sanejeev Khanna and justice Bela M Trivedi ruled that the court cannot intervene in the HC order that denied bail. It also observed that charges against two were serious in nature. In February first week , mother of a 17-year-old girl hailing from Kozhikode (north Kerala) had filed a complaint against the trio alleging that her daughter was sexually assaulted by Vayalat after summoning them to the hotel under the guise of offering a modelling contract, in October last year. Both Thankachan and Anjali were present when the assault took place during a DJ party, she had alleged in the complaint.
After the woman and her daughter left the hotel, Anjali had allegedly circulated the video and other photographs of the minor on social media platforms and among others, she had mentioned in the complaint. Anjali is also an accused in another compliant where she had allegedly revealed the identity of a sexual assault survivor via a social media post.
Though five women have raised sexual assault charges only one compliant was registered so far. Others are quite wary of bad publicity and have refused to file complaints, said police.
The infamous hotel came to the limelight after a road mishap on November 1 last year, in which three people, including former Miss Kerala Ansi Kabeer (25) and runner up Anjana Shajan (26) died following a car chase by the alleged drug peddler Thankachan. Their friend M Ashiq (28) died a week later. “All three would have been alive if the chase would not have been there,” police had said in the first information report (FIR). Both were arrested in models’ death case but they secured bail later. After new allegations against the controversial hotel came up, relatives of two models who died in the race-induced car mishap sought a central agency probe into the case. Ansi Kabeer’s uncle A Nazim said a detailed inquiry was needed to unravel the truth.
BLURB A senior Kochi police officer said Vayalat will be produced before the court on Monday
