KOCHI: In a landmark trial, the investigation officer in the 2017 actor abduction and rape case involving film star 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 eight other accused’s advocates cross-examined him for one 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. I assume that in Dileep’s case, a lot of digital evidence was collected during the investigation stage. The examination of this evidence during the trial takes a long duration,” George Joseph, retired SP of Kerala Police, told TNIE.
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 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 on September 26.