KOCHI: The Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Court conducting the trial in the actor abduction and rape case involving actor Dileep will approach the Supreme Court again after the deadline set by the court to complete the trial ended on Monday. The trial court will file a report in this regard in the Supreme Court through the Kerala High Court soon.
This would be the sixth deadline extension to be sought after the trial of the case commenced in 2020. It was in February this year that the apex court gave strict direction to complete the trial before July 31. The apex court had said that it would consider the status of the case on August 4. The trial court will be seeking a six-month extension from the Supreme Court.
According to prosecution sources, over 250 witnesses have been examined by the court. It would be a Herculean task to complete the trial before the end of the year. Further examination of some key witnesses, including Dileep’s wife Kavya Madhavan, was omitted.
“Now the remaining are official witnesses from the investigation and forensic teams. A delay is expected as more time will be taken for the examination of some key witnesses by the prosecution and defence sides. The examination of director Balachandrakumar lasted for 36 days. Kavya’s further examination was omitted as she was examined in the initial stage of the trial,” sources said.
The examination of investigation officer Baiju Poulose is expected to be time-consuming. “Over 30 days are needed for completing the witnesses examination of the investigation officer alone. The defence counsel who will cross-examine the investigation officer will be taking further time. Apart from it, there will be defence evidence to be examined which will again be a time-consuming affair,” an officer said.
After the witness examination, the court will initiate proceedings under CrPC 313 in which the judge will ask questions to the accused persons or give them questionnaires. Later, the final hearing will be conducted in which both the prosecution and defence will discuss the evidence examined. Later, the court will enter into the verdict stage.
Long delay
The trial which commenced in January 2020 was hit by the Covid lockdown. Later, the prosecution initiated further investigation in 2022 following which trial procedures could not be conducted for over six months. The case was registered in February 2017 after a leading actor was abducted and raped in a moving car on her way to Kochi from Thrissur. There are nine accused in the case. Actor Dileep was allegedly the mastermind behind the incident.