Ganesh Kumar’s office secretary held for threatening approver in actress attack case

PATHANAMTHITTA: Ganesh Kumar’s office secretary Pradeep Kottathala has been arrested for threatening the approver in actress attack case. The Bekal police arrested him from the MLA’s office in Pathanapuram early Tuesday morning.

The police have taken him to Kasargod and will be produced in the court today. The Kasargod Sessions Court had the other day rejected his anticipatory bail plea. The court accepted prosecution’s argument that the probe is at an early stage and that evidence should be collected after taking him into custody.

Pradeep Kumar reached Bekal to meet Vipin Lal, the main prosecution witness in the case on January 23, 2020. He went to Vipin’s relative's house and at a jewellery shop in Kanhangad where his uncle is working.

As he could not meet Vipin, Pradeep called his mother and introduced himself as the clerk of his son’s lawyer and asked to retract his statement. The threat continued through letters as well. Unable to bear the threat, Vipin lodged a complaint at the Bekal police on September 26. When the CCTV clippings of the jewellery shop and also the ID proofs from the lodge were obtained in the probe conducted, it was identified that he was behind the threat.

It was Vipin Lal who helped in writing a letter to many including Pulsar Suni, the main accused in the case, asking for money. The letter said the crime has been committed and money for it should be obtained. This letter had stoked a controversy then. Vipin Lal, a law student, was in jail in connection with another case. Soon after the letter was exposed, Vipin was first arraigned in the case but later was made an approver.