KOCHI: The survivor in the actor abduction and sexual assault case on Wednesday approached the Bar Council of Kerala seeking to initiate action against Senior Advocate B Raman Pillai and his two junior lawyers, who are appearing for actor Dileep, for their professional misconduct.
She alleged that the lawyer tried to influence the witness in the case and derail the trial. Raman Pillai has been representing actor Dileep, the eighth accused in the actor assault case, in the trial court and also in the Kerala High Court. "The lawyers' conduct is illegal and unethical. Hence, a detailed inquiry should be conducted and action should be taken against Raman Pillai and his juniors- Philip T Varghese and Sujesh Menon," the survivor said in her plea.
"I came to know that the scientific examination of the mobile phones reveals that the data in the phones were destroyed from the office of Raman Pillai," she added. She alleged that these lawyers were involved in the destruction of the data from the mobile phones of Dileep and other accused after the High Court had directed them to surrender the phones before the Registrar General. The lawyer went directly to the private forensic lab in Mumbai and involved himself in destroying the data from the mobile phones which was done at the office of Raman Pillai.
She further alleged that Raman Pillai had been resorting to unethical practices by directly involving themselves in the destruction of evidence in the actor assault case since the start of the trial in the case. She learned that Raman Pillai had offered Rs 25 lakh and five cents of land to Jinson, a prosecution witness in the case to influence him. The offer was made through Nasar of Kollam, an accused in a criminal case.
The Crime Branch registered a case in this regard and it has issued notice to Raman Pillai for interrogation. He has not appeared before the investigation officer in response to the notice given by the police and he is trying to escape from the case by getting bar associations to issue statements in his defence. Nobody expected this from a senior lawyer of the Kerala High Court and it amounts to professional misconduct.
She said she came to know from the media that Balachandra Kumar had revealed in an audio clip that Dileep's lawyer Philip T. Varghese had handed over Rs.5 lakhs to Alappuzha native and prime witnesses in the actor assault case, Sagar Vincent, for influencing him. The lawyer had gone to Alappuzha and visited him in this regard. She also came to know that the lawyers of Dileep had tutored Dasan, watchman of the actor's residence, on how to give untrue statements before police when they realised that he would be called by the police for interrogation. First accused Pulsar Suni's friend Sajith met Raman Pillai with a letter given by Suni from the jail. Later, Raman Pillai returned the letter to Sajith at a hotel in Irinjalakuda where they met. The letter was later produced before the police by Sajith, it was learned.
The lawyers had influenced 20 prosecution witnesses illegally and they turned hostile during the trial.