Need to probe how Dileep’s brother had notes on sexual assault visuals: Cops to court

The prosecution in the Kerala actor assault case on Tuesday, May 31, approached the Special Court seeking comparison of the photographs of the sexual assault visuals retrieved from actor Dileep’s brother’s phone with the verbatim transcript approved by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). The photographs retrieved from Anoop’s phone contained detailed second-by-second commentary of the visuals of the February 2017 sexual assault, and according to the prosecution, it is necessary to compare both the transcripts to know whether the accused was in possession of the assault video or had unauthorised access.

The prosecution has requested the court to send a forward note to the FSL in this regard, but the court said it could be done after verifying whether the court is in possession of the FSL-approved transcript. According to sources in the prosecution, though Dileep and his lawyers were allowed by the court to watch the video under court supervision on December 15, 2017, it is impossible for anyone to accurately transcribe minute details and time stamps unless they were in possession of the clip.

The prosecution also played a voice clip recovered from Dileep’s phone as evidence of the accused trying to influence the court and witnesses. The court had earlier asked the prosecution to produce evidence to back its plea for cancelling Dileep’s bail. The prosecution said they don’t know the identity of the people involved in the conversation and the same can be verified only after investigation. The trial in the case and the plea to cancel Dileep’s bail application will resume on June 2.

The memory card and pendrive containing visuals were returned to a court in Angamaly after examination at the FSL in Thiruvananthapuram, where it remained till March 2018. It was then transferred to the Ernakulam Principal and Sessions court where it was stored till March 2019. The digital evidence was under the safe custody of the trial court headed by Justice Honey M Varghese ever since.

Dileep and his lawyers were allowed access to the assault video twice. First on December 15, 2017 while the case was before a court in Angamaly and later on December 19, 2019.

The additional Special Sessions Court judge had recently rejected a petition by the Investigating Officer in the case asking to examine if the memory card containing visuals of the crime were accessed on other occasions after it was submitted at the court.