KOCHI: After nearly a three-month halt, the trial in the sensational Kerala actor abduction case in which actor Dileep is an accused will resume on January 21. The Additional Special Sessions Court on Monday fixed the schedule of the trial in which 116 witnesses will be examined from January 21 to March 17.
On Monday, the court heard the petition filed by the prosecution to alter the IPC offences charged against Dileep. According to the current charges, Dileep claimed he is a witness of a conspiracy hatched by the other accused persons. The counsel of Dileep objected to any alteration in the charges in the case.
The court reserved its verdict on the petition to Friday (January 15). The court will also consider the petitions for cancelling Dileep's bail and the bail pleas of two other accused persons on Friday.
Later, the court scheduled the date for examining the witnesses from January 21.
On January 21, accused-turned-approver Vipin Lal will be examined. While Dileep's wife Kavya Madhavan will be examined on January 28, filmmaker and his close friend Nadirsha will be examined on February 3. Apart from 116 witnesses, the court will examine nine investigation officers in the later stages of the trial.
Earlier, the court had examined 80 witnesses. The trial will be held behind closed doors as part of in-camera proceedings. The trial had come to a halt since October 2020 after the prosecution demanded changing the trial court alleging it was biased. However, both the Kerala High Court and Supreme Court ruled out changing the trial court following which Special Public Prosecutor A Sureshan resigned. Former CBI prosecutor AN Anil Kumar took charge as Special Public Prosecutor last week.
The shocking incident happened in February 2017 when a Malayalam actress was abducted and raped in a moving vehicle while she was travelling from Thrissur to Kochi. Actor Dileep was arrested in November 2017 and was in jail after being remanded in judicial custody. He received bail 80 days after his arrest. There are 10 other accused facing the trial.
The Supreme Court has set a deadline to complete the trial in the case before February 4, 2021. The trial which started in January 2020 was affected due to the COVID-induced lockdown. Though the trial resumed in August 2020, due to a petition on changing the trial court filed by the prosecution, it came to a standstill again.