In what is considered a setback to the trial proceedings in the Kevin murder case (2018), a key witness turned hostile before the Principal Sessions Court in Kottayam on Monday. The witness turned hostile during the final stages of the trial.
Abin Pradeep, a 20-year-old auto driver from Thenmala in Kollam, denied the statement he had given to the police that some of the accused in the case had informed him about Kevin and Anish’s abduction from Kottayam.
Going against the prosecution, Abin stated that he was forced to give a secret statement against the accused under extreme duress by the police. He also denied having helped some of the witnesses to hide the machetes they had carried for the abduction.
Apart from the statement to the police, the hostile witness had also submitted a confidential statement to the Changanassery magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC, revealing whatever he knew about the case. The submission was made in August 2018.
While a crucial witness turning hostile could hurt the prosecution and water down their case, special prosecutor CS Ajayan says that despite turning hostile Abin “virtually admitted to the accused having abducted Kevin and Anish”.
‘Hostile witness a friend of the accused’
Abin, who is charge witness no 28, was declared hostile by the sessions court judge C Jayachandran. Following this, the special prosecutor was allowed to cross-question the hostile witness.
“I asked him if the confidential statement given to the magistrate was true. To this he said yes, although adding that he was forced to give this statement,” Ajayan told TNM.
In his statement to the magistrate, Abin had revealed several details about the case.
“He stated that a few of the accused had told him that they had abducted two men from Kottayam the previous day and one of them (Kevin) was shown on TV,” Ajayan said.
According to Ajayan, Abin had also disclosed that he had helped accused number 10 Vishnu hide a few machetes used for the abduction after the crime was committed.
“I asked him a few direct questions like where did he keep the machetes. He replied saying he went to Vishnu’s house in Sasthamkotta in Kollam,” Ajayan added.
Despite a witness turning hostile during a trial and denying or deviating from previous statements, part of their statements that are in support of the prosecution can be used in the case. Ajayan says that this is what the prosecution had done during the trial.
Extra-judicial confession
As per section 164 of the CrPC, any metropolitan magistrate or judicial magistrate may, whether or not he has jurisdiction in the case, record any confession or statement made to him in the course of an investigation under this chapter or under any other law for the time being in force, or at any time afterwards before the commencement of the inquiry or trial, according to legal website Indian Kanoon.
The magistrate can also explain to the person that he is not bound to make such a confession. But if the person confesses, it can be used as evidence against him.
In Abin’s case too, his confidential statement to the Changanassery magistrate will be taken as evidence that can be used by both the prosecution and defence during the course of the trial, Ajayan added.
On Abin saying that he was forced to give his statement under duress, the special prosecutor added that Abin had testified to have stated the truth in his confession to the magistrate.
“It was also learnt that he had travelled all the way to the Changanassery magistrate court from Punalur on a KSRTC bus to submit his confidential statement, which rules out any doubts of duress,” Ajayan added.
While Abin turned hostile, another charge witness, Biju Abraham, identified 12 of the accused, including main accused Shanu Chacko, during the trial. The accused gang had visited Biju’s restaurant in Kottayam just hours before Kevin was abducted on May 27, 2018.
Twenty-three-year-old Kevin, a Dalit Christian man from Kottayam who had fallen in love with Neenu (21), was found dead in the Challiyekkara river near Thenmala in Kollam in May 2018. Both Kevin and Neenu had decided to get their marriage registered despite Neenu’s family’s opposition. In order to blackmail Neenu and get her to return home, Neenu’s family – mainly her father Chacko and brother Shanu Chacko – allegedly masterminded Kevin’s abduction. A 13-member gang broke into Kevin’s house in Gandhi Nagar in Kottayam and abducted him and his cousin Anish. While Anish managed to escape from the gang, Kevin’s body was retrieved a day later.