In a case involving the alleged plot to assassinate police officials who probed a woman actress’s kidnapping and sexual assault case in 2017, the Kerala High Court granted actor Dileep and others anticipatory bail on Monday. In this case, Dileep has been listed as a suspect.
Based on the evidence given by Dileep’s estranged friend and film director Balachandrakumar, the Crime Branch filed a complaint against him and five others last month.
The Crime Branch named five of the six defendants in the conspiracy case, including Dileep, while the sixth was listed as unknown in the First Information Report (FIR). The conspiracy case, according to Dileep, was made up. Dileep concocted the plot, according to Balachandrakumar, on November 15, 2017.
The court verdict
After multiple rounds of debate between the petitioners and the prosecution, the court decided on anticipatory bail applications.
Dileep said the latest case was made up because the prosecution’s case against him in the abduction case was weak, and detectives were attempting to elicit new evidence against him from the conspiracy case.
Dileep said that the further prosecution resulted from a plot planned by Baiju Poulose, an officer who investigated the actor’s assault case. Investigators wanted to take control of seven cellphones that Dileep and his relatives had previously used.
The Crime Branch was permitted to examine Dileep and others for 33 hours over three days by the high court, considering the suspected accused’s anticipatory release requests. The accused was not allowed to be interrogated in custody by the court. The Crime Branch filed the interrogation report to the court considering the bail applications.
The prosecution had to go to the high court to get a direction to seize the phones since Dileep refused to hand them over to the investigators. Dileep and two close relatives were ordered by the high court on January 29 to provide six cellphones by January 31.
The accused gave over the cellphones to the court, which did not allow the Crime Branch to see the devices and instead sent them to a forensic laboratory for analysis. The abduction trial is nearing its conclusion, and the court allowed the prosecution another month to question a few more witnesses in the case.
Published By – Vanshu Mehra
Edited By – Kritika Kashyap
