The Kerala High Court on Monday called for a report from the officer investigating Olympian Mayookha Johny’s friend’s allegation that she was raped by a man who took her nude photos and used them to blackmail her.
Justice Shircy V issued the direction after the victim’s lawyer claimed that the investigation was at a standstill, while the public prosecutor in the case contended that the probe was only recently handed over to the Crime Branch on orders of the State Police Chief.
The prosecutor said the case was handed over to the Crime Branch on July 5 and it had taken over the investigation on July 8 and proceeded to record the statements of the victim, her mother and the doctor who had examined her after the incident back in 2016.
He also told the court that several mobile phones related to the crime had been seized and a special team was constituted by the Crime Branch to probe the case on July 18.
The court directed the prosecutor to include all this in the report and listed the matter for hearing on July 30.
Last month, Johny had held a press conference levelling serious allegations against the Kerala police and a former official of the state women’s commission in connection with the investigation into the case of rape of her friend in 2016.
Johny had alleged that her friend was raped by a man, Chungath Johnson, who took her nude photos and used them to blackmail the victim. She had alleged that her friend was being threatened.
She had also alleged that police, after initially promising action, became inactive due to the intervention of highly influential persons in favour of the accused.
