KOCHI: In a landmark trial, the investigation officer in the 2017 actor abduction and assault case involving actor Dileep underwent witness examination for 109 days at Ernakulam District Principal Sessions Court. This may be the longest witness examination in Kerala, if not India.
The prosecution witness examination, which began in January 2020, concluded on Friday. Baiju Paulose, DySP of Kerala Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the investigation officer, was the 261st and final prosecution witness.
Baiju’s examination started on January 4 this year. The Special Prosecutor conducted the chief examination for 19 days. The advocates of eight other accused cross-examined him for a day, followed by Dileep’s counsel’s cross-examination, which lasted over 80 days.
“It might be one of the longest cross-examinations in the entire country. I can confidentially say that in Kerala Police’s history, there has been no case in which a police officer was cross-examined for such a long duration. Mostly the examination of the investigation officer lasts a couple of weeks,” George Joseph, former SP of Kerala Police, told TNIE.
“I assume that in Dileep’s case, a lot of digital evidence was collected during the probe stage. The examination of this evidence during the trial takes a long duration,” he said.
Actor abduction: Trial set to enter third phase
Last month, prime accused Pulsar Suni approached the Supreme Court claiming that the trial was dragging due to the prolonged witness examination of Baiju Paulose, and that he has been behind bars for over seven years without getting bail in the case. The apex court then directed the state government to submit records related to the witness examination of Baiju Paulose on September 17.
“Currently, the Supreme Court has directed to complete the trial of the case by the end of this year. We are expecting that the trial procedure would be completed at least by early 2025, if there are no further developments in the case,” an official part of the prosecution said.
Now, the trial will enter the third phase as part of which procedures under CrPC section 313 will be held on September 26. As part of the CrPC section 313 procedure, the court will either give questionnaires or directly ask questions to the accused persons. After the CrPC section 313 procedure, the examination of the defence witnesses will be held if the counsels of the accused present anyone. Later, the court will hear arguments from the counsels based on evidence examined during the trial. In the final stage, the last hearing is held before the court pronounces its verdict.