Kasaragod: Chandera police investigating a rape and cheating case against actor and model Shiyas Kareem impounded his mobile phone and sent the device for forensic analysis on Friday. Kareem's phone was seized after two days of questioning that ended on Friday, said Chandera Station House Office - inspector G P Manuraj. He is out on bail in the case.
A woman from Padna in Kasaragod and an instructor in a gym in Kochi has accused him of sexually abusing her for around two years by promising to marry her and also defrauding her of Rs 11 lakh by promising to make her a partner in his gym business. She also accused the former model of storing her morphed naked image in his mobile phone.
Kareem had been charged with section 376 of the Indian Penal Code for rape, section 313 for causing abortion without a woman's consent, section 343 for wrongful confinement, section 323 for causing hurt, and sections 420 and 417 of the IPC for cheating.
Inspector Manuraj said the phone was sent to the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory in Kannur to recover those photographs as alleged by the complainant. "It will take two to three months to get the results," he said.
Of the Rs 11 lakh she allegedly gave to Kareem, Rs 5 lakh was through bank transfer, said the officer. "During our questioning, Kareem said the complainant gave him the money for a used car she bought from his friend," said Inspector Manuraj. But that does not cut the ice because she could have given the money directly to the seller, he said.
When Chandera police registered the case, Kareem was in Dubai and the police issued a lookout notice against him.
The Immigration officers at Chennai airport detained him when he returned on October 5 and alerted Chandera police. But on the same day, the High Court of Kerala granted him an interim bail.
On October 7, Chandera police produced him before Hosdurg Judicial First Class Magistrate Court which granted him bail.
Kareem told police that his sexual relationship with the complainant was consensual and not based on the promise to marry her.
