The verdict in the was announced exactly at 11.05 am on December 8. Twenty minutes later, DySP Baiju Paulose, the investigating officer, quietly exited the courtroom and slid away from the media.

The principal district and sessions court in Ernakulam Dileep and convicted six others in the case. The judge said that the prosecution had failed to prove the conspiracy in which actor Dileep had been accused of masterminding the crime.

The actor left the courtroom, thronged by his followers and waving to the crowds. One of the first words he were, “This was a fake story crafted by the criminal police” — a direct attack on Baiju Paulose’s work.

Baiju Paulose is probably the most scrutinised investigating officer in a criminal trial in India.

The 52-year-old Deputy Superintendent of Police

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