Supreme Court extends interim relief from arrest of actor Siddiqui

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the interim protection granted to Malayalam film actor Siddiqui from arrest in an alleged rape case. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma extended its interim order of September 30 in which it had granted him interim protection from arrest in the case and directed him to cooperate in the investigation.

The bench passed the order after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mr Siddiqui, said he had a sore throat and sought some time to argue the case.

At the beginning, Mr. Rohatgi said that the investigating agency has been repeatedly asking the actor about his phone and laptop which he had in 2016 but which he no longer has. He said Mr Siddiqui had met the complainant only once and the investigating agency was also asking for his passport and Aadhaar number.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Kerala Police, said that Mr. Siddiqui is appearing before it but is not cooperating in the investigation and is giving vague answers.

The apex court had on October 22 extended the interim protection from arrest by two weeks. A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma allowed Siddiqui to file his rejoinder to the status report filed by the Kerala Police alleging lack of cooperation in the investigation on his part.

Mr Siddiqui had earlier sought time to file a counter affidavit to the status report filed by the Kerala Police and claimed that he was cooperating with the police investigation. Kerala Police, in its status report, alleged that the veteran actor was obstructing the investigation and had destroyed electronic devices besides deleting social media accounts.