Comedy king of Malayalam films Jagathy Sreekumar Monday appeared at the in-camera trial of the Vithura sex scandal case in which he is one of the accused.

The trial began here at the special court set up for the case. The sex scandal hit the headlines in 1995-96 when a 16-year-old girl from Vithura near Thiruvananthapuram was sexually abused by several people.

Currently, all the arrested including Jagathy are out on bail.

The case involving Jagathy is one of the three charge-sheeted cases. There are five accused in this case. Of the five, the first accused, Ajitha Beegum, committed suicide. Two people involved in the case are yet to be arrested.

Shobha, another accused in this case who was out on bail, did not appear in the court when the trial began. Judge P.K. Baburajan said that if she failed to appear in court in 30 minutes her bail would be cancelled and arrest orders issued. Soon after, Shobha too appeared and the trial began.

The victim was also present.

The Supreme court, after Jagathy had approached it for the speedy disposal of the case, directed the court to finish trial before April end.

With word spreading that Jagathy would arrive at the court, a large number of his fans including school children had arrived to get a glimpse of Malayalam film industry's leading comedian.

Reports indicate that the trial is expected to go on till April 17 and Jagathy, one of the busiest actors in the industry, would have to stay put here till the trial ends.

The special court was set up to look into this and the Suryanelli sex case where another teenage girl was sexually assaulted.

All the accused, except one, are on bail from the high court.