Odisha health minister died due to cardiogenic shock : Post mortem report
Bhubaneswar (PTI): Odisha police Wednesday said that the post-mortem report of the slain health minister Naba Kishore Das suggested that he died due to "cardiogenic shock".
The collection, collation and analysis of evidence collected so far has been done by a CID-Crime Branch (CB) team and steps are being taken to conduct a forensic psychological assessment and layered voice analysis test of the accused by experts of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in New Delhi, it said.
The additional director general of police, CID-Crime, Odisha, Arun Bothra is camping at the spot and personally monitoring and supervising the investigation into the case.
The Odisha police said in a statement, "The PM report suggests that the death was caused due to cardiogenic shock as a result of firearm injuries and is homicidal in nature".
The police have taken the accused, dismissed additional sub-inspector Gopal Das, on a four-day remand and his interrogation is being conducted by the CID-CB team.
A team led by a DSP is examining the witnesses, including supporters of the dead minister who were present at the spot during the firing on January 29, 2023, while another team headed by another DSP is verifying the medical treatment aspect and financial behavior of accused, an official said.
Examination of neighbours and villagers is being done by the second team at the native village of the accused in Ganjam district.
The police have inspected the vehicle and the crime spot with the assistance of a scientific officer and ballistic experts using a FARO 3-D Scanner, he said.
The 60-year-old minister was shot at allegedly by the ASI at Gandhi Chowk of Brajrajnagar in his home district of Jharsuguda when he went there for an official programme on January 29. The minister succumbed to bullet injuries at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar later in the day.
The opposition BJP and Congress denounced the inquiry by the crime branch and naming of a retired High Court Judge to monitor the investigation into the case.
The killing of the minister by a policeman was the first in the country since the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, Odisha BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said on Wednesday.
The people of the state are feeling unsafe after the killing of the minister in the presence of many security personnel and the state government is attempting to give a clean chit to itself, he said.
The investigation cannot be impartial unless it is invested by CBI, the BJP leader said and alleged that the CB has not been probing the conspiracy angle in the cabinet minister's killing.
"The state government has no interest to know the reason behind the minister's killing. It appears that the government is attempting to come out clean in the incident. Who is behind the conspiracy? The people across the state are suspecting a deep rooted conspiracy behind the minister's killing," he asserted.
On the appointment of a retired judge to monitor the case, Harichandan referred to the investigation into the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, a monk and a VHP leader, in Kandhamal district in 2008. "A judicial probe was held, but no result so far," he said.
People are also yet to know the outcome of the judicial probe into the alleged rape and murder of a dalit girl at Kunduli in Koraput district, he added.
Senior Congress MLA Santosh Sigh Saluja demanded an SIT probe into the minister's murder, which, he said, could be the outcome of a high-level conspiracy.
"Since Das was involved both in politics and business, the conspiracy could have been hatched from these two sections. But the crime branch of police is not interested to investigate this," he said.
The ruling BJD rejecting the allegations said the BJP leaders are making statements against the investigations out of frustration as they have been rejected by the people.
"BJP leaders should have faith in the judiciary and the investigation is being monitored by a retired High Court judge," BJD spokesperson Lelin Mohanty said at a separate press conference here.
The Odisha BJP leaders are "simply forgetting minimum political courtesy," he added.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
