The Kerala Crime Branch, which is investigating the 2017 female actor abduction and assault case, has reportedly found evidence substantiating the allegations made by filmmaker Balachandra Kumar that actor Dileep viewed the visuals of the assault.
Dileep is currently facing trial as the chief conspirator in the abduction and assault case. He is also being investigated for allegedly conspiring to kill the police officers who investigated the assault case.
According to the crime branch, evidence retrieved from a hard disk shows that Dileep had possessed visuals of the assault. The hard disk in question was recovered from a private forensic lab in Mumbai, where the actor had allegedly sent his phone in order to erase the data on it.
The officials further said that thousands of records, including conversations exceeding over 200 hours, were recovered from the six phones submitted by Dileep and the other accused to the Kerala High Court. They added that out of the six phones submitted, the inspection of two of them is 90% complete. The other phones are yet to be inspected.
The officials also said that although Dileep and his lawyers had tampered with the data, figments of it remained, and this was sufficient to substantiate the allegations made by Kumar.
They have also found proof corroborating Kumar’s allegation that Pulsar Suni, the first accused, had visited a place near Dileep’s house.
Aside from this, Dileep’s phone reportedly also contained photos of court documents attested by the presiding officer. On March 29, the officials had requested the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court to grant permission to investigate this further, but the request was denied.
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The crime branch is planning to question Dileep’s wife Kavya Madhavan, who is currently in Chennai, after she returns to Kerala. She will reportedly be available for interrogation next week. The officials told the High Court that her questioning can only be carried out after completely verifying the forensic laboratory reports. They also filed in a petition in court seeking an extension of three months to complete the investigation.
It may be noted that the High Court had earlier ordered that the investigation in the actor assault case be wrapped up by April 15.
Meanwhile, the Bar Council has sent a notice to Dileep’s advocates B Raman Pillai, Philip T Varghese and Sujesh Menon, against whom the survivor raised a complaint alleging unethical behaviour and professional misconduct. The advocates have been directed to submit their responses within two weeks.