KOCHI: Actor Dileep may get the opportunity to examine the videos of the victim as directed by Supreme Court in actor abduction case on December 18. The case came to consideration of Additional Special Sessions Court as part of a preliminary hearing before framing charges against the accused on Wednesday.
The court asked Dileep's counsel to submit details of the expert engaged for examining the videos of the victim as directed by Supreme Court on December 16. "The court has decided to arrange a session for Dileep, lawyer and an IT expert to examine the videos of the victim on December 18. However, the defence lawyer has to give details about the IT expert who will be engaged to examine the videos on December 16. The visuals will be played at the court. Dileep's lawyer has asked to permit three experts- an IT expert, video recording expert and audio recording expert to examine the videos which will be played at the court.
However, paragraph 43 of the Supreme Court order in Dileep's petition clearly states that only a lawyer and an IT expert to be permitted to view the videos to enable him to effectively defend himself during the trial," Special Prosecutor A Sureshan said.
Meanwhile, the court partially permitted Dileep to access 32 electronic devices from which digital evidence was extracted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). Dileep had filed a petition requesting mirror images of 32 digital devices including laptop, mobile phones, CCTV, pen drives and hard discs seized from the accused persons and witnesses. However, the court decided not to hand over mirror images of these devices. Dileep and his lawyer can engage an IT expert and view mirror images of these devices at the court.
The court also dismissed bail petitions filed by Martin Antony, Vijesh and Pradeep. All other nine accused expect Dileep were present at the court on Wednesday. While hearing the defence lawyers as part of a preliminary hearing before framing charges against the accused, counsels representing Manikandan, Vijesh, Saleem, Pradeep, Charly Thomas, Sanal Kumar and Vishnu submitted that they have nothing to argue now. Counsels representing Pulsar Suni, Martin Antony and Dileep sought more time for the hearing. Dileep's lawyer said that they will argue the matter after examining the visuals.
It was on February 17, 2017, a young Mollywood actress was abducted by a gang and was molested inside a moving vehicle. Her videos were also recorded. An FIR was registered at the Nedumbassery police station on the same day. Dileep was arrested by the Special Investigation Team on July 10, 2017. As many as 10 persons are to face trial in the case of which five including Dileep are out on bail.