Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the further proceedings in a case registered against actor Unni Mukundan for outraging the modesty of a woman.
The court was considering a plea submitted by the actor to quash the FIR against him. He informed the court that he had settled the case with the complainant.
The complainant had alleged that the actor attempted to rape her in 2018. The woman, in her complaint, said that Mukundan tried to violate her when she went to his flat at Edappally to discuss a movie project.
However, the actor claimed that she had cooked up the allegation in a bid to trap him in a false case, tarnish his reputation and extort money from him.
The case was first stayed by the court in May 2021. The stay was also extended multiple times.
In 2022, the actor's lawyer had announced that the case was settled on August 22, 2022. But the complainant informed that she had not signed the settlement agreement and that the document was fake when the case was considered again on February 2023. Subsequently the court rejected the actor's plea to quash the case.
In May 2023, the court had directed the completion of the trial in three months. The current stay was invoked after the actor informed the court about the new settlement arrangement.