The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the abduction and sexual assault on a female actor in Kochi has recovered a memory card from a junior lawyer of Pratheesh Chacko, former defence counsel of Sunil Kumar, aka ‘Pulsar’ Suni, key accused in the case.
Official sources said the memory card, which apparently contained no data, was recovered while interrogating Raju Joseph at the Aluva police club on Sunday. It will now be sent for forensic examination to ascertain whether it had original footage of the actor being abused. The police interrogated Mr. Joseph for several hours on Sunday and are said to have received crucial inputs on the current location of Mr. Chacko from him.
The police believe that ‘Pulsar’ Suni handed over the phone used to shoot the actor’s video and the memory card containing the footage to Mr. Chacko and seek to interrogate the lawyer. He has remained untraceable ever since the SIT asked him to appear for interrogation. An anticipatory bail application by Mr. Chacko is pending with the High Court.
Women’s panel’s move
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Women’s Commission has sent letters to its counterpart in Tamil Nadu as well as to the Public Relations Department there, seeking urgent action against a section of Tamil media carrying the name and photograph of the survivor.
In a statement on Monday, M.C. Josephine, Chairman of the commission, urged local media houses to withdraw contents shedding light on the actor’s identity.
