The Supreme Court has approved anticipatory bail for Venu Balakrishnan, the Chief Executive Officer of an IT company in Kochi, in connection with a case involving allegations of rape and sexual harassment made by a former employee. A bench consisting of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan stipulated that Balakrishnan should be granted bail if arrested, contingent upon a cash security of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties of equivalent value.<\/p>\n
Earlier, on December 5, 2025, a different bench led by Justice Nagarathna had encouraged both the complainant and Balakrishnan to explore a settlement, directing them to the mediation center of the Supreme Court. However, since this attempt was unsuccessful, the court proceeded to examine the case based on its merits.<\/p>\n
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Balakrishnan, noted that the Kerala High Court had previously denied bail to his client. He highlighted that the complainant and her spouse had sought a financial settlement of Rs 30 crore in July 2025, asserting that the legal actions against Balakrishnan only commenced after these negotiations failed.<\/p>\n
The complainant has accused Balakrishnan of persistent sexual harassment in the workplace, which included sending inappropriate messages and videos, making lewd proposals, and threatening her job security if she did not comply. Despite multiple internal complaints, she stated there was no follow-up action, and any complaints made were later withdrawn due to pressure, alongside assurances that the misconduct would cease. Ultimately, she felt forced to resign and pursue legal action.<\/p>\n
In response to claims of extortion, the complainant alleged that she and her husband were summoned to meet with senior officials of the company at a hotel on July 29, 2025. During this meeting, police officers, allegedly acting under Balakrishnan’s influence, arrested them and confiscated their electronic devices. The complainant contended that a seizure report was only created on August 5, by which time the contents of their devices could have been altered.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the couple claimed that Balakrishnan had transferred Rs 50,000 into her bank account as part of a scheme to frame them.<\/p>\n
In its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court observed that the documents presented by Balakrishnan indicated that he had agreed to pay the complainant and her husband a total of Rs 30 crore, divided into installments of Rs 10 crore each.<\/p>\n
Justice Nagarathna, who authored the judgment for the bench, remarked that the complainant and her husband appeared to be willing to accept this sum to resolve their allegations against Balakrishnan and to conclude their disputes.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the state government opposed the bail request, citing the severity of the allegations and the potential for Balakrishnan to intimidate witnesses due to his significant influence and resources.<\/p>\n
Previously, on September 11, 2025, the Kerala High Court had denied Balakrishnan anticipatory bail, stating that the charges were of a grave nature. However, the court did grant pre-arrest bail to other co-accused individuals: Jacob P Thampy, Eby Paul, and Bimalraj Haridas. Following this, Balakrishnan appealed to the Supreme Court, which on September 26 ordered that no coercive measures be taken against him during the interim period.<\/p>\n
The FIR against Balakrishnan includes multiple charges under Sections 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 64 (rape), 74 (outraging a woman’s modesty), 75 (sexual harassment), and 79 (insulting a woman’s modesty), in conjunction with Section 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as well as Section 67A (transmitting sexually explicit acts) of the Information Technology Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Supreme Court has approved anticipatory bail for Venu Balakrishnan, the Chief Executive Officer of an IT company in Kochi, in connection with a case involving allegations of rape and sexual harassment made by a former employee. A bench consisting of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan stipulated that Balakrishnan should be granted bail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[40,155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","category-in-legal"],"yoast_head":"\n