The memory card, which contains the visuals of the actress assault incident of 2017, has been sent for forensic examination again.
As per the directives of the Kerala High Court, the card was sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. The card, which was in the custody of the trial court, was taken to the lab by the police officers in a sealed cover. The court has directed to complete the analysis within 7 days.
The results of the forensic examination would be available to the trial court and the probe officer.
The High Court had passed the order, while allowing the plea of the prosecution which demanded that the memory card be subjected to forensic examination again. The forensic examination was sought to ascertain if the memory card had been illegally accessed while it was under the custody of the trial court. Earlier, the trial court had rejected the plea for the same request.
The investigators want to confirm whether the memory card was tampered with, leading to a change in the hash value. State forensic lab assistant director Deepa who appeared in court via video-conferencing earlier had said that the hash value would change if there is any addition, omission or modifications.
(A hash value is a numeric value of a fixed length that uniquely identifies digital data. It is integral to ascertaining and ensuring data integrity.
The hash value changes significantly as the contents are modified )
A top female actor from South Indian film industry 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 survivor. There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven. Malayalam film actor Dileep who is an accused in the case was arrested subsequently and released on bail.
