Overview
- Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Judge Honey M Varghese is scheduled to pronounce the ruling on Monday, nearly eight years after the attack in Kochi.
- Prosecutors say the 2017 abduction and sexual assault was carried out by Pulsar Suni as part of a conspiracy, leading investigators to name actor-producer Dileep as the eighth accused.
- Ten defendants faced trial on charges including conspiracy, kidnapping and gang rape under the IPC and 66E/67A of the IT Act, with Dileep also charged under IPC Section 204 for alleged destruction of evidence.
- Key evidence centered on assault visuals stored on a memory card submitted to court, later found to have been accessed by judicial staff during custody after a Kerala High Court-ordered inquiry that prompted handling guidelines in 2023.
- The trial featured 261 witnesses, hostile turnarounds by several actor-witnesses, resignations of two special public prosecutors, a further probe after 2021 recordings surfaced, and final arguments that concluded in February before clarifications continued through November.