The special court trying the actor rape case has issued a non-bailable warrant against an approver who failed to turn up for examination as a witness.
Vishnu, arraigned as 10th accused, was scheduled to appear before the court on Tuesday. The court had also set apart four days from July 27 for his examination. Before turning approver, the police had listed Vishnu as an accused for his alleged role in the conspiracy with Pulser Suni, the first accused, that was hatched inside a jail.
The prosecution case was that Vishnu, while in jail, knew about Pulser Suni writing a letter to extort money from actor Dileep. The police have also arraigned Dileep as the eighth accused in the case. He has been charged with hatching the conspiracy with the other accused to rape the actor and video-record the commission of the crime.
After getting out of jail, Vishnu had allegedly procured a copy of the letter seeking money from Dileep and shared it with Appunni, the driver of Dileep, through WhatsApp. Later, the trial court accepted the plea of Vishnu to turn an approver in the case.
As the court considered the case on Tuesday, the prosecution informed the court that Vishnu had not turned up and his whereabouts could not be located by the police, which made enquiries at his house. However on Wednesday, the prosecution submitted an outpatient ticket, allegedly taken by him from the Government Medical College, Kalamassery, where he had sought treatment for post-COVID health issues.
Incidentally, special judge Honey M. Varghese has sought six more months for the completion of the trial as a few months were lost following the lockdown.
The trial court has so far examined 176 witnesses. The examination of Kavya Madhavan, wife of Dileep, actor Nadirsha, Appunni, and others is scheduled for next week.
