Kochi: The Crime Branch probing the actress abduction-cum-sexual harassment case will question the employees of the trial court in order to know whether the visuals contained in the crucial memory card were leaked or not.
The police are planning to recreate the scenes that happened in the court on July 19, 2021 when the lawyer of the prime accused N S Sunil Kumar (Pulsar Suni) was allowed by the court to see the visuals from the memory card.
The Supreme Court had earlier instructed that the lower courts should take extra precaution in maintaining the secrecy and security of the digital gadgets which act as crucial pieces of evidence in criminal cases.
The legal fraternity is shocked to hear the news that the memory card, which was in the safe custody of three courts at three different points of time, were opened illegally without the permission of these courts. So, a detailed probe is necessary to find out whether the visuals were leaked from the memory card when it remained in the safe custody of the courts.
The lawyers of the accused are also under a shadow of doubt. The forensic report received by the Crime Branch is learnt to have pointed out that the memory card was opened on July 19 after it was taken to the court in the morning along with a pen drive from the safe custody of the Treasury Department for enabling the lawyer of Pulsar Suni to view it.
It is also understood to have found during the forensic investigation that the memory card was opened in between 12.19 pm and 12.54 pm in a Vivo mobile phone, having a Jio SIM card.
But the lawyer of Pulsar Suni said that he had seen the visuals in the presence of the Judge in a laptop specially installed in the court for this purpose.
According to him, he viewed the visuals around 3 pm on the day and the screening lasted for around 15 minutes. He said that a hash value-changed memory card was not used for the screening of the visuals for him. A laptop with a pen drive was used for the purpose. If that was the case, then the memory card was opened at 12.19 pm on July 19 on a Vivo phone.
The probe in the case will progress only if the person, who opened the memory card on Vivo phone, is found out.
Probe team clueless about leak of visuals from two other courts
The Crime Branch does not have any idea about the chances of leak of visuals from other two courts.
The memory card was opened on January 9, 2018 at 9.58 pm by connecting it to a laptop when it was under the custody of the Angamaly Judicial Magistrate Court.
The memory card was opened on an Android phone on December 13, 2018 at 10.58 pm when it was under the custody of the Principal Sessions Court.
But such kind of examination of memory cards is not usually possible inside the courts in the night. So, the chances of somebody taking memory card outside the court in the night and then leaking the visuals cannot be ruled out.
HC to hear plea seeking more time for probe
The High Court will consider on Friday the plea by the State Government and the inquiry officer, seeking time for another three more weeks to complete the probe in the case.
Justice Kausar Edappagath will hear the petition. The additional time given by the High Court for probe in the case is ending on Friday.
