Dileep, Balachandrakumar and new witnesses: What’s happening in actor assault trial

Filmmaker Balachandrakumar created ripples in Kerala by turning whistleblower against his friend and superstar Dileep. On November 23 last year, he sat in the court of Judge Honey M Varghese and began his deposition in the trial in the 2017 actor sexual assault case. The cross-questioning went on for 40 days, despite Balachandrakumar’s health collapsing. The trial re-started on November 10, 2022 after a gap of more than two years and has seen several new and crucial witnesses deposing before the court. Other than the sexual assault, the witnesses, including actor Manju Warrier, also delved into audio clips that had recently emerged..When the trial first started on January 30, 2020 against 10 accused, including main accused Pulsar Suni and eighth accused Dileep, for the kidnap and sexual assault of an actor in February 2017, there were 355 witnesses listed. As the second stage of the trial started after Balachandrakumar’s explosive allegations, 114 more witnesses were added to the list. Other than the sexual assault, the court now has three more dimensions to look into – did Dileep have the visuals of the sexual assault with him? Did Dileep, his family, and his lawyers try to influence witnesses or tamper with evidence? Did Dileep conspire against police officers?The first witness to take the stand this time was Sujith, Pulsar Suni’s friend. After Balachandrakumar burst into the scene in December 2021 alleging that Dileep had a copy of the visuals of the sexual assault with him, Pulsar Suni’s mother revealed that her son had written her a letter from jail. Sujith, who had the original copy of the letter, appeared in court. Since it is an in-camera trial, the article cannot delve into further details.The next witness to appear before the court was Balachandrakumar himself. While the prosecution put questions to him for around 1.5 days, the defence cross-questioning went on for 40 days. The deposition that started on November 23, 2022 went on till June 16, 2023. A battery of lawyers confronted him about the clandestine audio recordings that he allegedly made during his visits to Dileep’s house. Balachandrakumar had also alleged that a few months after the assault, Dileep, his family members, and a friend watched the video of the sexual assault at the actor’s residence.From the beginning of the trial, Balachandrakumar was unwell as his kidneys were failing. After the first couple of days where he made a physical appearance in the courtroom in Kochi, he was allowed to depose on a live link from an empty courtroom in Thiruvananthapuram. By then, he had started dialysis at a hospital in the capital city, and at one point his condition became critical.What Balachandrakumar’s main allegations were: Read..After Balachandrakumar’s long cross-questioning, it was hacker Sai Shankar’s turn to depose next. In January 2022, a new FIR was filed against Dileep, his brother Anoop and brother-in-law Suraj accusing them of hatching a conspiracy to kill police officials investigating the case. The Crime Branch said that after the FIR was filed, crucial data was deleted from Dileep’s phones using Sai Shankar’s help. Sai Shankar turned an approver in the case and claimed that he did delete the files. Dileep’s lawyers have maintained that Sai Shankar is not a trustworthy witness.Read: ‘100% sure I can retrieve data I removed for Dileep’: Hacker Sai Shankar to TNM.In between this, an old witness in the case was brought back – Dileep’s former wife and popular actor Manju Warrier. Manju was asked to identify the voices in certain audio files submitted before the court, including those given by Balachandrakumar. There were also audio files recovered from the phones of Dileep and his family members. One such audio was that of Dileep’s brother Anoop being coached by a lawyer on how to lie in court about Manju. TNM had published the audio earlier in which the purported lawyer can be heard telling Anoop to inform the court that Dileep and Manju’s relationship was strained because she started consuming alcohol and became ambitious.The Crime Branch’s case is that Dileep had a grudge against the survivor for revealing his affair with Kavya Madhavan (his current wife) to Manju Warrier, which is why he paid Pulsar Suni to kidnap, assault the survivor, and record it on camera..The other witnesses who appeared before the court include Anoop, Suraj, and Kavya’s parents. Two officials from the State Forensic Science Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram also deposed before the court and were cross-examined. Their depositions pertained to the audio files and the memory card in which the sexual assault was recorded. The State FSL had earlier submitted a report that the memory card was accessed three times – twice in 2018, and then on July 19, 2021..The Supreme Court’s latest deadline to finish the trial is March 31, 2024. A person who follows the trial closely told TNM that there are a few more important prosecution witnesses left and around 10-15 witnesses that the defence may line up.The prosecution witnesses include more FSL officials and Crime Branch Superintendent MP Mohanachandran Nair. Mohanachandran had raided Dileep’s house ‘Padma Sarovaram’ in Aluva in January 2022 after Balachandrakumar alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched there to attack police officers. Though this was lodged as a second FIR against Dileep, aspects of this investigation have been woven into the sexual assault case.Finally, Baiju Poulose, the investigating officer in the case who is also a recipient of the Union Home Minister’s medal for excellence in investigation, will depose. While the survivor’s cross-questioning went on for around 10 days and Balachandrakumar’s for 40 odd days, Baiju’s is also expected to go on for many weeks. “The court functions five days a week and mostly from noon, so it will definitely take a few weeks to finish Baiju’s questioning,” a source said.Dileep had written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Director General of Police in January 2022 alleging that Baiju Poulose had conspired and presented Balachandrakumar as a witness to jeopardise the trial. Dileep, who seemed fairly confident of how the trial was going till then, said, “It seems the officer is scared that if the presiding officer who recorded the evidence of 202 witnesses is allowed to pass a verdict in the matter it will affect his career which he has deliberately built up using false propaganda in the media.” Dileep also alleged that Baiju had a copy of the visuals of the sexual assault and would misuse it.Baiju Poulose has vehemently denied these allegations.The prosecution is hoping that the forensic reports, handwriting and audio sample confirmations will make their case stronger.Over the years, the case has seen several twists and turns. Two public prosecutors resigned alleging that Judge Honey Varghese was biased and that they could not function in her court; the survivor herself approached the High Court twice asking for the judge to be changed. However, the HC turned down these petitions calling them devoid of merit. The Supreme Court has given several extensions to the deadline. The survivor told The News Minute in a detailed interview in March 2022, “Many people changed their statements in court, many things have been done to topple the case. But I’m optimistic that I will get justice. Before the trial started, I had a tendency to blame myself. But once I went to court and spoke about everything so transparently, I had this strong realisation that I was not to blame for anything, I’m a survivor who needs justice.”Read actor Bhavana interview: Fighting back without a support system is unimaginable