KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the special investigation team probing the rape case involving C C Johnson, a former trustee of the Emperor Emmanuel Church, Muriyad, to file the investigation report in a sealed cover. Justice V Shircy issued the order on a petition filed by the victim seeking a proper and fair investigation in the case.
The victim is a friend of Olympian Mayookha Johny, who had held a press conference raising allegations against the police and a former chairperson of the Kerala Women’s Commission for having allegedly interfered in the case to save the culprit.
When the petition came up for hearing, B S Suresh, counsel for the survivor, submitted the police has not arrested the accused even two months after a complaint was filed. The survivor’s psychological evaluation too has not been conducted. In her petition, the woman alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Johnson on July 9, 2016, at 10 pm at her house in Zeon Eden Colony, Muriyad. She said the accused came to her house when her mother was not there. Later, the accused took her nude photos and used them to blackmail her, the petition said.
The prosecution submitted that a special investigation team is probing all allegations raised by the victim. The statement of the victim’s neighbours and friends, and inmates of the Eden Housing Colony were recorded by the investigating officer, said the prosecutor. The prosecution submitted that the police have seized several mobile phones related to the case and they need to be verified. That would be crucial to proving the offence as the accused has absconded after committin the crime.
‘DOCTOR’S STATEMENT CONFIRMS SURVIVOR’S RAPE’
Kochi: Olympian Mayookha Johny on Monday came out with serious allegations against the police team which initially probed the rape complaint lodged by her friend. She alleged that police team purposely failed to record the statements of the two witnesses who saw the accused coming out of the survivor’s house on the particular day and also didn’t consider a doctor’s statement that “the victim was raped.”
“It was the Crime Branch team, which launched a probe into the case recently, that recorded the statements of the two eye-witnesses and the doctor who examined the survivor on the next day of the incident,” Mayookha told TNIE.
“Around 9.30 pm on July 9, 2016, two neighbours had seen the accused coming out of the victim’s house after committing the crime. The two eye-witnesses have given their statements to the Crime Branch. The doctor who examined the victim on the next day of the incident has also given a statement,” said Mayookha. “The doctor, who examined the victim after she complained of severe pain in several parts of her body, told the Crime Branch that though she could not document any details, she found that the victim was raped,” said Mayookha.