The Kerala High Court on Monday granted the Crime Branch time till July 22 to complete the further investigation in the actor sexual assault case and file a final report before the trial court.
Justice Kauser Edappagath passed the order while disposing of a petition filed by the Crime Branch seeking three weeks more to complete the further probe and file a final report in the case. It was for the third time that the Crime Branch was seeking an extension of time to complete the further probe and file a final report.
The court noted that the time extension was sought by the investigation agency mainly on two grounds — first, to collect the cloned copy or mirror image of the forensic image of a memory card and produce it before the trial court in a sealed cover, and the second was to interrogate former Director General of Police (DGP) R. Sreelekha in connection with her remarks that actor Dileep, the eighth accused, was innocent in this case.
Report ready
Director General of Prosecution T.A. Shaji submitted on Monday that the copy had been collected from the Forensic Science Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, and produced before the trial court. He further submitted that the final report was ready. In fact, the further probe report consisted of voluminous documents and the photocopies of the pages needed to be taken for production before the court. Therefore, the Crime Branch required breathing time to produce the final report before the court.
The court pointed out that the further investigation was initiated in the wake of the revelation made by director Balachandrakumar. The statement allegedly made by Ms. Sreelekha occurred much after that. In fact, it had nothing to do with the further investigation, the court added.
The court had earlier dismissed a petition filed by actor Dileep challenging the further investigation and directed the investigation agency to complete the probe on or before April 15, 2022. The deadline was extended till May 30. It was last extended till July 15.
