Actor Assault Case: Kerala High Court Directs Crime Branch To Wind Up Further Investigation By 22nd July

The Kerala High Court on Monday disposed of the plea filed by the prosecution seeking 3 more weeks' time to conclude further investigation in the 2017 Actor Assault Case.

Justice Kauser Edappagath denied this request of the Crime Branch, but considering the submission made by the Director General of Prosecution, granted time till 22.07.2022 to submit the Final Report. Initially, the Court had asked the prosecution to conclude the investigation by 15th July.

The petition had sought time to collect the cloned/ mirror image of the Memory Card originally produced before the Angamaly Magistrate from the forensic laboratory in Thiruvanthapuram and to interrogate former DGP R Sreelekha IPC for the remarks made by her in favour of Dileep, who is the 8th accused in the case.

The Court pointed out that the further investigation was initiated on the basis of some revelations made by director Balachandra Kumar. It pointed out that the statements made by R Sreelekha were made much later and therefore it has nothing to do with the revelation made by Balachandra Kumar.

Furthermore, the Court held that the time fixed by the Supreme Court for the completion of the trial was already over, and that the extension of time granted by this Court to the prosecution for the completion was 15.07.2022. It was also added that another bench of the High Court, while disposing of an original petition connected with the case, had opined that the timeline should be adhered to.

The Court, while highlighting that this was the third petition seeking an extension of time, denied the relief. However, taking into consideration the submission made by the DGP, the Court has granted time till 22.07.2022 to produce the final report. 

Director General of Prosecutions Advocate T. A. Shaji, on the previous day of the hearing, had submitted that the main reason for seeking an extension of time was to collect the cloned/ mirror image of the memory card and also for questioning DGP R Sreelekha IPC for her remarks on the case in favour of one of the accused person in the case. The Court had thereby authorised the investigating agency to collect the required evidence from the forensic laboratory. 

The counsel appearing for actor Dileep, Advocate Philip T Varghese, raised the objection against the extension of time for further investigation submitting that the ongoing probe is a sham investigation designated to ensure that the judicial officer who recorded the evidence of the witnesses does not pronounce the verdict in the case. 

The court, when the petition came up for hearing, had directed the DGP to designate someone to collect the cloned/mirror image of the memory card and produce the same before the court in a sealed envelope. DGP submitted that it had been produced, thereby one of the reasons seeking the extension of time is over. 

Case Title: State of Kerala v. P. Gopalakrishnan alias Dileep & Anr. 

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 355