KOCHI: The Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court has acquitted Malayalam film actor Shine Tom Chacko and seven others in a case related to a suspected drug party at an apartment in Kochi in January 2015.
The verdict was based on blood test results that ruled out cocaine abuse, and the prosecution’s failure to prove possession of cocaine traces found at the scene.
Shine Tom Chacko, along with Reshma, Blessy, Tincy Babu, and Sneha Babu, was arrested following a police raid at an apartment in Jawahar Nagar, Kochi, on 31 January 2015.
The other accused, African national Okowe Chigozie Collins, Prithviraj, and Jasbir Singh, were alleged to have supplied 10 grams of cocaine to Reshma and Blessy.
Shine and the four women were in jail for two months before being granted bail by the Kerala High Court in March 2015. The trial commenced in October 2018 at the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court, where around 25 witnesses were examined.
The court ruled in favour of the accused after blood tests confirmed none of them had used cocaine. Additionally, the prosecution could not establish that the cocaine traces found at the apartment belonged to the accused.
All eight accused, including Shine Tom Chacko, were present in court when the verdict was announced.