The government said that the survivor had already identified the first six accused involved in the crime and expressed concerns that granting bail to Pulsar Suni could disrupt the trial.
Published Sep 16, 2024 | 2:38 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 16, 2024 | 3:05 PM
Dileep. (Supplied)
The Kerala government told the Supreme Court that actor Dileep was attempting to fabricate narratives in the case related to the alleged abduction and the subsequent assault of a female Malayalam actor in 2017.
In an affidavit filed before the apex court, the state government claimed that these efforts were aimed at undermining the prosecution’s evidence in the trial court and prolonging the case trial.
These allegations were made in response to opposing the bail application moved by Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Suni, the prime accused.
The government said that the survivor had already identified the first six accused involved in the crime and expressed concerns that granting bail to Pulsar Suni could disrupt the trial.
There is a possibility that the survivor may be threatened with the release of the assault footage to hinder the proceedings, the state government said.
It also highlighted the risk of Pulsar Suni fleeing if granted bail. The Supreme Court is set to hear Pulsar Suni’s bail plea on Tuesday, 17 September.
The developments come as the Kerala government and the Malayalam film industry are dealing with the outcome of the Hema Committee report, which was formed after this case came to light.
The actress-victim, who worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of 17 February 2017 and later escaped in a busy area.
The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress.
On the other hand, in 2022, after reports emerged that the footage of the survivor’s assault was leaked, the survivor approached the Kerala High Court seeking an investigation into this.
She also sought an inquiry into the change in the hash value of the memory card of the device where the visuals of the incident were allegedly stored.
Appearing on behalf of the survivor, Advocate Gaurav Agarwal submitted that the memory card had been accessed three times while in court custody.
On 21 February 2024, in a setback to Dileep, the Kerala High Court directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to hand over a copy of the fact-finding report to the survivor in the actor sexual assault case.
In his affidavit placed before the Kerala High Court, Dileep said the allegations made by the government in the petition to cancel his bail were baseless. He added that these claims were rejected by the court many times before.
Dileep further stated that the trial court already examined 259 prosecution witnesses.
He asserted that there was no point in thinking that he would influence the investigating officer and the joint director of the forensic lab.
(With inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman)
