Eight days after he went into judicial custody, Sandalwood Actor Duniya Vijay and three of his associates were granted bail on Monday.
The 70th Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court granted set the bail amount at Rs 1 lakh. Vijay and his aides were also ordered to appear before the investigating officer regularly and cooperate with the investigation. Officials at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru said that they have not recieved a copy of the bail order from the court. "Duniya Vijay can walk out of the jail if the bail application reaches before 7:30pm. October 2 being a public holiday, he will be released on Wednesday if the bail application reaches anytime after 7:30pm," a prison official said.
Earlier on September 26, the 8th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Bengaluru had denied him bail in connection with an assault case.
Duniya Vijay was arrested by High Grounds Police on Sunday for allegedly assaulting and kidnapping a man named Maruthi Gowda. Maruthi is the nephew of Pani Puri Kitty, Vijay’s former friend and trainer.
The High Grounds Police booked Vijay under IPC sections 365 (kidnapping), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement), 325 (punishment for causing grievous hurt) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and was subsequently remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
The actor and three of his associates were lodged in Parappana Agrahara prison so far.
Meanwhile, officials at High Grounds Police Station in Bengaluru have also registered an FIR against the complainant in the assault case – H Krishnamurthy alias Paani Puri Kitty, the alleged assault victim Maruthi Gowda and others.
The FIR was registered based on a counter complaint by actor Duniya Vijay. The actor alleged that Pani Puri Kitty and Maruti Gowda threatened his son's life, pushed him and damaged his sports car on Sunday night near High Grounds Police Station. It was the same night Vijay was accused of assaulting Maruthi Gowda, a gym trainer at Ambedkar Bhavan, after a bodybuilding event.
Kitty was previously Vijay's gym trainer and is the uncle of Maruthi Gowda. Actor Duniya Vijay is not new to controversy.
He was out on bail after being booked for abetment in connection with the 'Maasti Gudi' case – in November 2016, where a stunt shoot had gone wrong at the Thippagondanahalli Reservoir and resulted in the death of two actors.
In the scene, Duniya Vijay, Uday and Anil had to jump off a helicopter from a height of 100ft. While Vijay had a life jacket, the other two actors were not given any safety gear. Vijay was on the run for over a year after he was charged by police for helping accused producer P Sundar Gowda avoid arrest. He was also detained by police in connection with another assault, in which he allegedly beat up one of Sundar Gowda's relatives.