KOCHI: The Additional Special Sessions Court judge in Kochi holding trial in the actor assault case and the prosecution sparred for over four hours on Thursday when the latter’s plea for cancelling the bail of actor Dileep, the eighth accused, came up for hearing.The prosecution said Dileep and his associates had been trying to set up a parallel judicial system, leading to fiery arguments between Public Prosecutor Sunil Kumar and Judge Honey M Varghese which started at 11am and ended at 3pm.
The prosecution said Dileep had also tried to harm investigation officers using his money, muscle and political power. The public prosecutor claimed that Dileep and his associates are creating a parallel judicial system. However, the judge condemned the comment and said no such parallel system is possible. She said the judicial system cannot be maligned and asked the prosecution to refrain from such submissions.
The prosecution substantiated attempts to influence two witnesses — Vipin Lal and Jinson. However, the court referred to its 2020 order when a similar plea for cancelling the bail was dismissed. The court asked the prosecution whether there is any change in the circumstances after the bail cancellation plea was dismissed in 2020. The court claimed that other than statements and evidence collected in 2020, the prosecution could not present any fresh evidence.
The audio clips collected by the police should be verified and played in the open court, it said, addng that some of the clips claimed as evidence against Dileep have appeared in media but are yet to reach the court. On this, the prosecution claimed that it had not leaked any evidence and that documents were leaked from the court.
The judge clarified that no document was leaked from the court and claimed that the A-Diary maintained at the court is accessible to the public though the police seized a photograph of the diary from Dileep’s phone. Similarly, another document found on the phone was a court order.
The judge observed that she, her father and her husband are becoming the subject of discussion. “Now, only my 12-year-old daughter is remaining,” she said. To this, the prosecution said it has not alleged that the court is involved in leaking the documents. It has to check whether the court staff were influenced.
The prosecution claimed that it has evidence that Dileep’s former employee, Dasan, was taken to his lawyer before the police interrogated him. However, Dileep’s lawyer B Raman Pillai said he was undergoing Covid treatment when the said incident took place. The prosecution claimed that it has other evidence regarding influencing of witness Sagar Vincent, former employee of Lakshya Boutique owned by Dileep’s wife Kavya Madhavan.