Malayalam comedian Mani gets conditional anticipatory bail

Kochi: Ace Malayalam comedian and character artiste Kalabhavan Mani, who has been on the run to escape arrest for roughing up three forest officials, Thursday got anticipatory bail from the high court, but with strict conditions.

Justice SS Satish Chandran, however, asked the actor to appear before the investigating officials for questioning. He also asked police to present Mani before a magistrate after questioning and directed that court to grant him bail. For bail, the court has directed him to furnish a security of Rs.50,000 and two other sureties. The incident occurred on May 14 when Mani and a woman friend, driving through the famed tourist destination at Athirapally in Thrissur district, were stopped by forest officials on routine patrol duty. When the officials asked him to open the boot of the vehicle, Mani got angry and drove away. Mani later returned and according to the forest officials, threatened them with dire consequences and also roughed them up. Since that day, the actor was on the run. IANS