The WCC, which was formed after the shocking incident in 2017, said the reshuffle of the police top brass has shattered all their hopes about the investigation.
Crime Branch chief ADGP S Sreejith, who headed the investigation, was transferred as the transport commissioner as part of the rejig. Shaik Darvesh Saheb, who headed the Prisons Department, is the new Crime Branch chief. Sreejith's transfer has risen many eyebrows and CPI leader Annie Raja has openly questioned the move.
"The reshuffle in the police top brass at a time when the investigation into the case over the assault of our colleague is in the final stage has shattered our hopes. The transfer of the investigation head when the court has allowed one-and-a-half-month is depressing as a cliched anticlimax in our police films. A series of new evidence has come out through new twists (in the probe) even as it looked like the investigation had lost its way and justice would be impossible. These evidence substantiated our colleagues complaint against the defence lawyers' attempts to undermine the case. The defence lawyers approached the government against investigation officer when the probe was heading towards them, and he was transferred. This makes us anxious in every way. We urge the pro-women Kerala to keep vigil against this attempt to subvert (the investigation)," the WCC said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
The WCC has been at the forefront of a campaign seeking justice to the survivor actress who was abducted and assaulted by a gang in Kochi in February 2017. Popular Malayalam actor Dileep is accused of plotting the crime as an act of revenge. He was arrested and jailed for several weeks before being granted bail. The case witnessed fresh twists in the past few months after Dileep's former friend Balachandra Kumar came out with a series of allegations against the actor. The Crime Branch in December registered a fresh case against the Dileep and a few others based on Balachandra Kumar's allegations that they had plan to kill the police officers who investigate the 2017 case and arrested the actor.
The reshuffle had come as a surprise to many as the Crime Branch under Sreejith's stewardship had been aggressively pursuing the developments in the assault case and a related conspiracy case.
It is alleged that the government was pressurised into issuing the transfer following repeated criticisms from the court and on the back of objections raised before the home secretary by lawyers' associations.
Leader of Opposition, VD Satheesan had questioned the reshuffle soon after the appointment of P Sasi as the chief minister's political secretary.
"The matters behind the transfer of officers probing high-profile cases must come out," Satheesan said.
