The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the interim
protection from arrest granted to Malayalam film actor Siddique 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 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 Siddique, said he had a bad throat and sought some
time to argue the matter.
At the outset, Rohatgi said the investigating agency
is repeatedly asking the actor about his phone and laptop which he had in 2016
but does not have it now.
He said Siddique has met the complainant only once
and the probe agency is also seeking his passport and Aadhaar number.
Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Kerala
Police, said Siddique has been appearing before it but is not cooperating in
the probe and giving evasive replies.
On October 22, the top court extended the interim
protection from arrest for two weeks.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish
Chandra Sharma allowed Siddique to file his rejoinder affidavit to the status
report filed by Kerala Police, which alleged a lack of cooperation in the
investigation on his part.
Siddique had earlier sought time to file a rejoinder
affidavit to the status report filed by Kerala Police and claimed that he has
been cooperating with the police's investigation.
Kerala Police, in its status report, alleged that the veteran actor was
hindering the investigation and had destroyed electronic devices besides
deleting social media accounts.