The special judge considering the actor rape case may once again approach the Supreme Court seeking more time for completing the trial as the court-set deadline will expire soon.
Special judge Honey M. Varghese is likely to highlight the plea of the prosecution seeking more time for reinvestigating the case while moving the apex court for extension of the deadline. The Supreme Court had earlier asked the trial court not to seek any further extension and complete the proceedings before February 16. This will be the fourth time that the trial court is seeking an extension of the deadline.
If it were the COVID-imposed lockdown and the plea of the State government and the victim for change of court and later the resignation of the special prosecutor that earlier forced the trial court to seek more time, this time the prosecution has sought more time to reinvestigate the case, which in turn has hit the trial proceedings.
Moreover, the newly appointed special prosecutor has also stepped down, which has stalled the court proceedings. These aspects are also likely to reflect in the plea of the trial court.
Incidentally, the prosecution plea to reinvestigate the case comes at a time when the trial court had completed the examination of around 200 witnesses. It was the television interview of a filmmaker, P. Balachandra Kumar, who stated that actor Dileep, the eighth accused in the rape case, had invited him to view a video clip of the alleged rape that gave a twist to the controversial case.
Incidentally, the trial court has asked the police to file a report on the progress of the reinvestigation on January 20.
The police had also booked a case against the actor for allegedly plotting to kill the investigation officers in the case following the television interview. The police had also conducted searches at the houses of the actor and some of his relatives following the revelation.
The prosecution case is that the accused abducted the survivor, a popular cine actress on the night of February 17, 2017 and sexually assaulted her in a moving car in Ernakulam, while she was returning from a shooting location. It was also alleged that Dileep was the mastermind of the crime, who hatched the criminal conspiracy, with the other accused in the case.
