The Kerala high court on Tuesday dismissed a plea by Sunil NS, alias Pulsar Suni, seeking suspension of the sentence imposed on him in the 2017 actress assault case.India NewsSunil, the first accused in the case, and five others were convicted by the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court last year on charges including gangrape, wrongful confinement and assault. All six were sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.A bench of justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and KV Jayakumar held that Sunil had failed to make out exceptional or sufficient grounds to warrant suspension of his sentence.“...we are of the considered view that the applicant has not been able to point out any parent infirmity, manifest illegality or perversity in the judgment rendered by the learned Sessions Judge. At this interlocutory stage, we are unable to conclude that the findings recorded by the learned Sessions Judge are so unreasonable or perverse as to justify suspension of the execution of the sentence,” the court said.The prosecution argued that Sunil was engaged to carry out a planned sexual assault on the actress and record her nude visuals to blackmail and intimidate her. It described the crime as a “calculated and premeditated act” reflecting an “extraordinary degree of criminal depravity”.Counsel for Sunil argued that he had already spent nearly eight years in prison before the trial court delivered its verdict.The high court, however, said that considering the gravity of the offence, Sunil’s criminal antecedents, his involvement in other cases and his violation of bail conditions, no exceptional circumstances existed to suspend the sentence.While Sunil and five others were convicted, actor Dileep, who was arraigned as the eighth accused and charged with criminal conspiracy, was acquitted by the sessions court. The Kerala government has challenged his acquittal before the high court.