KOCHI: The final hearing as part of the trial in the sensational Nedumbassery human trafficking case will be held at the CBI Court here next week. The verdict in the case will be delivered within a month.
The accused persons facing the in-camera trial are Suresh K V, Lissy Sojan, Sethu Lal, Anil Kumar, Bindhu, Santha, Maneesh A P, Sudharman, Varghese Raphael, Kabeer P K, Siraj, P A Rafeeq, S Mustafa and Thahir.
According to a CBI officer, the final hearing in the case will be held on January 27. “As part of the trial, a total of 73 witnesses were examined by the court. There were seven defence witnesses. More than 50 material objects and documents were examined by the court. The procedure under 313 CrPC has also been completed. The final hearing will take place in one or two sittings, following which the case will be posted for the verdict,” he said.
The incident came to light in 2013 when a Kazhakootam native woman arrived in Mumbai after escaping from the clutches of sex racketeers in Sharjah. Authorities in Mumbai handed over the victim to the police at Nedumbassery who initiated the probe.
The case, investigated by the Crime Branch, was later handed over to the CBI. Five cases have been registered in the human trafficking incident in which some police officers are also involved. The CBI has filed chargesheets all the case, which stated an organised group in Kerala was involved in the sex racket with the active support of airport officers.