Kochi: Amid reports that state police chief (SPC) Loknath Behera has expressed displeasure over the tardy progress in the actor assault case, the Special Investigation team (SIT) is having another go at recovering the memory card used to shoot the attack after key accused Sunil Kumar aka Pulsar Suni revealed in a fresh statement to cops that he had sent the card to a clothing store in Kakkanad owned by a prominent actress.
According to sources, the investigation team is making the move in a secretive manner, with plain-cloth police personnel visiting the places where the accused or his accomplices frequented soon after the incident on February 17 in rented or in those vehicles taken into custody in other cases.
The hunt for the memory card began after Suni told cops that he had handed it over to someone at the shop through his aide Vijesh, currently in police custody. The cops have already checked CCTV footage and computers at the office of the apparel store, in addition to collecting details of cash transactions. The previous attempts to trace the memory card based on Suni’s statements had failed. However, the cops now base the probe on the suspicion that the key accused attempted to hand over the memory card to someone connected with the cine field.
Sources said Mr Behera, who reviewed the progress of the case, expressed displeasure over the delay in probing the blackmail complaint given by actor Dileep, also directed ADGP (South-zone) B. Sandhya and crime branch IG Dinendran Kashyap to ensure coordination in the probe.
Mr Behera, who returned as SPC on Friday, undertook the review in the wake of a note by his predecessor T.P. Senkumar that Ms Sandhya was initiating the probe without coordination and that SIT head Mr Kashyap was totally in the dark about the 13-hour long quizzing of Dileep and actor-director Nadirsha. Mr Behera is understood to have pointed out that there is little progress in the investigation into the complaint by Dileep which he received as SPC in April. He also asked the investigation officers to adopt scientific methods to probe the case. The SIT should not hesitate to interrogate the suspects, irrespective of their profile, he said.
In a late night statement, Mr Behera, however, said that reports that there was no coordination among police officers in the probe was baseless. “Ms Sandhya would continue to supervise the probe and no change was made in the investigation team. There was perfect coordination and communication among the investigation team members,” it said.
Meanwhile, the police collected statement of Phenie Balakrishnan, a lawyer, after he had claimed he was approached by two persons seeking legal aide for Pulsar Suni sometime back. “I identified the photo of a man showed by the cops. He was one of the two who had earlier approached me. The man spoke in Tamil and referred himself as Manoj. He had referred to a madam and I was asked about this,” Phenie told mediapersons after the interrogation at the Aluva police club.
- Mr Behera, who returned as SPC on Friday, undertook the review in the wake of a note by his predecessor T.P. Senkumar that Ms Sandhya was initiating the probe without coordination and that SIT head Mr Kashyap was totally in the dark about the 13-hour long quizzing of Dileep and actor-director Nadirsha.
- Mr Behera is understood to have pointed out that there is little progress in the investigation into the complaint by Dileep which he received as SPC in April.
- In a late night statement, Mr Behera, however, said that reports that there was no coordination among police officers in the probe was baseless. "Ms Sandhya will continue to supervise the probe and no change was made in the investigation team.
