Kochi: The Kerala Government has informed the high court that the responsibility of monitoring the probe into the 2017 actor assault case is with the new Crime Branch chief Sheikh Darvesh Sahib. The assurance was given in light of doubts if the investigation will be affected following the recent replacement of the Indian Police Officer who had been overseeing it.

The government will file a detailed explanation in the matter. The plea in this regard will be taken up again on May 30.

The petition was filed by Baiju Kottarakara, the president of the Kerala State Board of International Human Rights Council.

The petitioner had alleged that the decision to remove an officer who was monitoring a case before completing two-and-a-half years in the post was a violation of rules.

The petition is being considered by the division bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chally.

In a major reshuffle in the top brass of the Kerala Police last month, Crime Branch chief S Sreejith was replaced by Sheikh Darvesh Saheb, who headed the Prisons Department. This gave rise to fears if it would prove detrimental to the probe into the sensational case. It was widely felt Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Sreejith had handled the probe satisfactorily so far.

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.