Overview
- Ernakulam Principal Sessions Judge Honey M. Varghese is scheduled to pronounce the judgment around 11 a.m. on Monday after a trial that stretched nearly eight years.
- Actor Dileep is charged with criminal conspiracy linked to the 2017 abduction and filmed sexual assault, with 10 accused facing trial under IPC and IT Act provisions.
- With the recording phone never recovered, a memory card became pivotal evidence, and a Kerala High Court-ordered inquiry found it was illegally accessed while in court custody before issuing handling guidelines in December 2023.
- Prosecutors cite a prison letter from prime accused Pulsar Suni naming Dileep and reported payment records as key links, while many witnesses from the film industry turned hostile during extensive proceedings.
- Recent reports, attributed to a single media outlet and police sources, allege a fake WhatsApp group was created to suggest a framing narrative, even as the case spurred reforms such as the WCC’s advocacy and the release of the Justice Hema Committee report.