New crime branch chief is in charge of probe into actress assault case: govt tells High Court

KOCHI: The Kerala government has said that ADGP S Sreejith was not in charge of the probe into the actress assault case. The government informed the high court that Shaik Darvesh Saheb, the new crime branch chief, was made in charge of the investigation.

Director Baiju Kottarakkara had approached the High Court against the decision to remove Sreejith from the charge of investigating the case. While considering the petition, the High Court asked the government to produce the order issued to replace the previous officer with the new officer. It also asked the government to inform about the progress of the investigation.

S Sreejith, the former ADGP of the Crime Branch, was removed from the charge of the investigation when the investigation in the actress assault case and the conspiracy case was drawing to a conclusion. This had sparked a heated debate.

Meanwhile, the trial court, which considered the plea seeking cancellation of Dileep's bail, allowed more time to produce evidence. The court on Thursday criticized the prosecution's arguments. The prosecution had informed the court that Dileep destroyed evidence including phone chats in the actress assault case.