Kerala actor abduction case: HC grants 10 more days to complete examination of witnesses
KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday granted 10 more days from January 27 for the prosecution to complete the examination of witnesses before the trial court in the 2017 actor abduction and sexual assault case. However, the court declined the plea of the state government to extend the time till the completion of further investigations now being undertaken by the Crime Branch against Dileep and five other accused persons.
Justice Kauser Edappagath issued the order on the petition filed by the state government seeking to extend the time. While permitting the state government to examine five additional witnesses on January 17, the court had directed to ensure that examination of witnesses and production of documents was done within 10 days. The time limit will expire on January 27.
When the case came up for hearing, TA Shaji, Director General of Prosecution, submitted that as per the order of the high court, three witnesses were already examined and two more are left to be examined. The summons to these two witnesses has not been served so far. The state submitted that it is not sure whether the investigating agency will be able to serve the summons before January 27.
Since one witness Sathyamoorthy belongs to Telangana and another to Tamil Nadu, it is necessary to obtain written permission from the controlling authority to travel outside the state. Hence, it is not possible to complete the examination of the witnesses as ordered by the court.
Besides, further investigation based on the revelation of director Balachandrakumar is going on and it would take some time to be completed. Hence, it is just and expedient that the trial stands deferred till the final report in the further investigation is filed before the trial court, submitted by the government.
The court orally observed that the time limit cannot be extended until the completion of further investigation.
Opposing the plea, Senior Advocate B Raman Pillai, Dileep's counsel, submitted that the Supreme Court has already rejected the plea of the state government seeking an extension of the deadline fixed for completing the trial.
The court made it clear that the prosecution should see that the examination of the witnesses is completed within the extended period of ten days.