Kochi, Jun 14 (PTI) Kerala High Court judge, Justice Kauser Edappagath, on Tuesday recused from hearing a petition filed by the Crime Branch against the trial court judge in the actor assault case, in which Malayalam actor Dileep is an accused.
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The Crime Branch, which is probing the case, had approached the High Court challenging the lower court order, halting the probe into alleged leak of evidence from the court during the trial.
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The Crime Branch stated that a memory card, which was crucial evidence in the case and was submitted before the court, was forwarded to the forensic laboratory, but was found with a change in the hash value of the card, which indicated unauthorised access.
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The trial court had halted the inquiry in this regard against which the Crime branch had moved the High Court.
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On June 3, the High Court had granted extension of time till July 15, to the Crime Branch team, to complete the investigation into the 2017 actress assault case.
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The actress-victim, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress.

There are 10 accused in the 2017 case, including actor Dileep, and police have arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.

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