Senior advocate V Aja Kumar has been appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the Kerala actor assault case. TA Shaji, the Director General of Prosecution, Kerala confirmed that the survivor specifically asked for Aja Kumar to be the SPP in the case. Additional Special Public Prosecutor K B Sunil Kumar will continue in his post. Ever since December 2021 when a man named Balachandrakumar leveled various allegations against Dileep, leading to a further investigation in the case, Aja Kumar has been a constant presence on Malayalam television channels, batting for a wider probe.
VN Anilkumar, who was the last Special Public Prosecutor representing the survivor, had resigned in December, 2021 and since then, there was no SPP in the case. Before Anilkumar, A Suresan had quit in November 2020. Both these prosecutors had told the state government that Judge Honey Verghese’s attitude had made it untenable and therefore they had to leave the case.
The Kerala High Court on Monday, July 18 refused to accept the prosecution’s request to extend further probe in the 2017 actor assault case, and also directed the probe team to submit the final inquiry report by July 22. While the prosecution had submitted a request to submit the report by July 25, the court declined it.
Last week, a new forensic report that came out as part of a petition filed by the Kerala police in the actor assault case, threw up surprising revelations. It stated that the memory card, containing visuals of the assault in February 2017, which was supposed to be in the protective custody of the court, had been accessed thrice.
It was at the Ernakulam Additional Special Sessions Court of Judge Honey M Varghese, where the visuals were accessed the last time in July 2021. This is where the trial of the case is currently going on.
Watch TNM’s earlier interview with Aja Kumar