KOCHI: The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court conducting the trial in the actor abduction and assault case on Monday framed fresh charges against actor Dileep and his friend Sharath. The charges were framed based on a supplementary charge sheet filed by police in July after conducting a further investigation based on the revelations made by director Balachandrakumar. Both Dileep and Sharath appeared before the court as part of the procedure.
The closed-door proceedings commenced at 3.30 pm. The charges for causing the disappearance of evidence under IPC Section 201 and the destruction of documents or electronic records to prevent its production as evidence under IPC Section 204 were read out to the accused persons. Both pleaded not guilty before the court. It posted the case for Thursday to schedule the trial.
The proceedings lasted for around 45 minutes.
Though Dileep and Sharath had last week approached the court pleading not to accept the supplementary charge sheet, it dismissed the plea. The court will decide on commencing the trial while scheduling the date for examining witnesses on Thursday.
The trial in the case came to standstill in January this year after the police launched a further investigation in the case. As many as 202 witnesses were examined as part of the trial before further investigation was launched. In the supplementary charge sheet, the police alleged that Dileep destroyed the evidence related to the actor abduction case. There are 112 more witnesses and 300 documents listed in the supplementary charge sheet.
It was on February 17, 2017, that a leading actor was abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving car while she was travelling from Thrissur to Kochi. So far, the police have filed three charge sheets in the case.