Kochi: The Kerala High Court which has before it a couple of petitions related to the 2017 actor assault case has refused to heed the prosecution allegation that the memory card containing the visuals of the sexual crime was illegally accessed while it was in the custody of the lower court.
On Friday, the Kerala High Court bench of Justice Kauser Edappagath did not make any observation while hearing a petition by the prosecution which alleged that memory card was compromised. The Justice stated that he was refraining from commenting on the matter as a related matter was under the consideration of another bench of the High Court.
Dileep's counter
Meanwhile, the advocate representing actor Dileep, who is among the accused in the case, argued that the state government was making the allegation with the intention of embarrassing the court. Moreover, even if the memory card had been opened while in the court’s custody, the police had no powers to investigate the matter, Dileep’s lawyer added.
Prosecution plea
This prosecution plea was filed on Thursday during a hearing of a petition filed by the prosecution to cancel Dileep's bail. According to the prosecution, Dileep had violated several bail conditions, including desisting from influencing witnesses.
The prosecution presented a few voice clips that were submitted by director P Balachandra Kumar, claiming they have incriminatory evidence against co-accused and suspected mastermind actor Dileep and his associates who too are accused in another case over alleged attempt to harm investigating officers of the sexual assault case. Citing them too, it argued Dileep's bail should be cancelled.
Meanwhile, the defendants urged the high court bench to carry out a cyber-forensic examination of a crucial voice clips.
When the defendants questioned the validity of this crucial evidence presented by the prosecution, the court directed the prosecution lawyer to trace the dates on which the controversial voice clips were created.
What was Balachandra Kumar's claim?
Director Balachandra Kumar had earlier revealed that Dileep and other accused had viewed the recorded visuals of the sexual assault of the actor on November 15, 2017. A forensic report also said that the hash value of the memory card had been changed on December 13, 2018, suggesting that it was opened that day.
Incidentally, the memory card was in the court’s custody at that time. It reportedly contains the visuals of the crime that happened in February 2017, following which Dileep and others were arrested and later let off on bail.
But, Dileep’s lawyer argued that when the dates are considered, it would be clear that the opening of the memory card was irrelevant to the investigation.
