Owner of Hotel 18 in Fort Kochi, Roy J. Vayalat, surrendered at the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mattancherry on Sunday, after the Supreme Court on Friday denied him relief on an anticipatory bail plea in connection with a case registered against him and his associate Shyju Thankachan under the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The Kerala High Court had also denied them bail earlier, stating that they were not entitled to anticipatory bail, considering the nature of allegations against them.
The duo and Anjaly Reema Dev of Kozhikode had all along been contending that the allegations of molestation and sexual assault raised by the woman known to Anjaly and the woman’s minor daughter were an attempt at blackmailing them. The woman has alleged that she, her daughter and two other women were brought to Kochi on a false pretext, following which they were sexually assaulted at the hotel in Fort Kochi. Anjaly had been granted conditional anticipatory bail in the case.
Hotel owner Vayalat and his associate Thankachan had been arrayed as accused in the death following a car accident of two models and their friend on NH Bypass near Palarivattom, on November 1, following a late-night party at Hotel 18. Thankachan had allegedly chased the ill-fated car in an Audi, which was cited as a probable reason for the accident.
