Kochi: A witness in the actor attack case, Sagar Vincent, has approached the High Court with the allegation that the inquiry officer Baiju Paulose is intimidating him by asking him to change the already given statement and evidence.
Sagar said in his petition that he received notice many times, asking him to appear before the police.
He was the coordinator of 'Lakshya' garment unit run by the brother of Dileep's wife Kavya Madhavan. Now, Sagar is an autorickshaw driver in Alappuzha.
Cyber expert's link
The ongoing inquiry by the police points to the involvement of cyber expert and Kozhikode native Sai Sankar in the deletion of the digital evidence in connection with the conspiracy to kill the inquiry officer in the actress attack case.
Sai Sankar was arrested by the then Circle of Inspector of Tripunithura, Baiju Paulose, in an extortion case in 2015. He was arrested on the charge of hooking some wealthy and influential people in a honey trap in a hotel room in Thripunithura and then extorting money from them by duping them as anti-narcotic bureau officials.
According to the inquiry team, the accused in the actress attack case exploited Sai Sankar's ire against Baiju Paulose and made him an accomplice in the crime.
During the trial of the Tripunithura case, Sai teamed up with the accused in the actress attack case and deleted digital evidence in the conspiracy case. The police say that he was lured by the accused in the actress attack case by offering him both financial and legal help to fight the Tripunithura case. His services were used for deleting the digital evidence of the conspiracy.
Meanwhile, the Crime Branch issued a notice to Sai Sankar, asking him to appear before it on Friday.
HC refuses to stay Crime Branch probe
The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused the plea to stay the Crime Branch probe against actor Dileep and others in the conspiracy case levelled against them.
"The investigation cannot be stayed and let the inquiry continue,'' Justice K Haripal said, while adding that the case warranted detailed hearing.
The court said that the petition could be heard only after summer vacation. But Dileep's lawyer Siddharth Agarwal sought early hearing of the case. Then the court said that the case would be heard on April 1. But after repeated requests from the defence side for the early fixing of the hearing, the court said that the case would be posted on March 28.
The Judge said that since he is retiring in May, the case would be listed in another Bench. The case pertains to an alleged attempt to kill and threaten police officials who were investigating the 2017 actress sexual assault case against Dileep. Apart from Dileep, Dileep's brother Anoop, brother-in-law TN Suraj, their relative Appu and friend Baiju Chenagamanad are the other accused in the case.
