Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday granted 10 more days to the prosecution in the actor assault case of 2017 for the examination of new witnesses arraigned in the case. Justice Kauser Edappagath allowed the plea of the prosecution seeking more time to complete the examination of witnesses. Meanwhile, the prosecution informed the court that out of the five witnesses, the examination of three was completed.
Earlier, on January 17, the High Court had allowed the state government's appeal and struck down the trial court's orders, declining its pleas to summon several more witnesses and get certified copies of the call detail records of the accused in the actor sexual assault case of 2017. The trial court, on December 21, had allowed the summoning of the three witnesses and rejected the request for summoning the others.
With regard to the summoning of witnesses, the prosecution has contended that the lower court order rejecting the application for recalling some of the witnesses and allowing summoning of only three, was "illegal and improper and would cause prejudice in arriving at a right decision in the case". The victim -- an actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films -- was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by some of the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017, and later escaped in a busy area.
READ: Kerala actor rape case: Supreme Court declines HC's plea for more time
The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actress. There are ten accused in the case and initially, police arrested seven people. Dileep was arrested subsequently and let out on bail later.
(PTI)
