KOCHI: Coming down heavily on the investigation team probing the February-2017 actor abduction case, the Angamaly Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Friday observed it was the investigating officer’s duty to see due care was exercised to maintain secrecy regarding the contents of the final report in the case and also to prevent media trial on the final report which is the basis of the ensuing trial.The court made the observation on the petition filed by actor Dileep, the eighth accused in the case, seeking action against the police officer responsible for leaking the details of the final report soon after it was filed.
V B Sujesh Menon, counsel for Dileep, argued though Baiju Poulose, the investigating officer, produced the documents in a sealed cover before the court, he was facilitating the media with documents, which were exclusively with him and the court, to conduct a parallel trial. The police contended the media might have gained access to a very small portion of the case’s records using high-quality electronic devices while the records were being readied for copying and getting transported to the court.
Such an attempt by media persons was noticed in front of the police club and they were restrained from doing so as soon as the incident came to the notice of police personnel on duty. The court observed there was some genuineness in the apprehensions raised by the petitioner. Moments after the submission of the final report, discussion about its contents, explicitly the same, took place on news channels. When an explanation was sought, the police officer, sans a proper inquiry, filed a vague explanation. The court also expressed dissatisfaction over filing such an explanation by the police.
The court directed the police to take abundant caution to ensure the material which form the part of the final report were not leaked for media trial, which would eventually interfere with the administration of justice. It also closed all the proceedings on the petition.