Kochi: The trial court which is considering the 2017 actor assault case has asked the prosecution why cyberexpert Sai Shankar was not listed as an accused in the case when Dileep's friend Sarath was on the list. The prosecution will examine the matter.
The prosecution on Tuesday informed the court that Director Balachandrakumar submitted the audio clip to the police after amplifying it. The prosecution argued that the dates on the digital files could have been altered due to this.
However, some of the photos and videos in the pen drive are from June 2015, the prosecution said.
The Crime Branch, which is probing the case, had approached the High Court challenging the lower court order, halting the probe into alleged leak of evidence from the court during the trial.
The Crime Branch stated that a memory card, which was crucial evidence in the case and was submitted before the court, was forwarded to the forensic laboratory, but was found with a change in the hash value of the card, which indicated unauthorised access.
The trial court had halted the inquiry in this regard against which the Crime branch had moved the High Court.
Kerala HC judge recuses from hearing
Meanwhile, Kerala High Court judge, Justice Kauser Edappagath, on Tuesday recused from hearing the petition filed by the Crime Branch against the trial court order in the actor assault case.
On June 3, the High Court had granted extension of time till July 15, to the Crime Branch team, to complete the investigation into the 2017 actress assault case.
The actor-survivor, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress.
There are 10 accused in the 2017 case, including actor Dileep, and police have arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.
(With PTI inputs.)
