Kochi: Verdict on perhaps world’s first contract rape case of a actress, in which actor Dileep is an accused, will be delivered by the trial court tomorrow, media reports said.
The most literate state Kerala was shattered to hear evening neŵs on February 17, 2017, about the abduction of a popular south Indian actress who was brutally abused by a gang of six men led by Prime accused Pulsar Suni in a moving vehicle on Seaport-Airport Road in Kochi.
It was due to the active intervention of late P T Thomas of Congress that gave impetus to the investigation. The media too played a pivotal role in exposing the case.
According to the prosecution Dileep had allegedly plotted the crime to settle scores with the survivor who he blamed for spoiling his marriage by leaking out his illicit relationship with actor Kavya Madhawan to his wife Manju Warrier who subsequently divorced him.
The Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court will pronounce its verdict in the case that
led the division of the industry with women actors quitting the actors’ outfit A.M.M.A to form an outfit exclusively for eves.
The investigation led by ADGP B Sandhya was done meticulously which led to the arrest and incarceration of Dileep for three months before securing a conditional bail
from the Kerala High Court in 2017.
The police were moving in the right direction when 28 witnesses turned hostile after they changed their confessions giving advantage to Dileep.
It was at this time when the case was losing steam when film director
Balachandra Kumar, a friend turned foe of Dileep, came forward with clinching proof against Dileep. He testified about witnessing Dileep and some others watching the abusing video of the female actor in his house. He also gave vital information to police against Dileep.
It was during this time when the investigation team chief ADGP S Sreejith was replaced by another top cop leading to the Left government inviting wrath from different sectors.
The investigation team came up with startling revelations backed by forensic evidence about a few judicial officials accessing the memory card containing the objectionable video of the survivor at odd hours on a number of occasions. A probe was ordered by the Kerala High Court in this regard.
The survivor and accused among others moved Kerala High Court and Supreme Court on various issues.
Photo: X
