Kerala High Court restrains police from arresting actor Dileep till Jan 27 | Latest India News

The Kerala High Court on Saturday restrained the crime branch from arresting Malayalam actor Dileep and four others till January 27 in a fresh case related to an alleged conspiracy to kill the police officer who investigated the case of abduction and sexual assault involving an actress.

In the interim order the single judge bench of Justice P Gopinath allowed the crime branch to question him and others till Tuesday and warned the accused that their bail will be canceled if they tried to influence witnesses in the case. Though the prosecution insisted on custodial interrogation the court said a final decision will be taken on January 27. The court issued an interim order after a day-long hearing.

The crime branch had filed a fresh case against them two weeks back alleging a plot to kill the police officer who investigated the actors abduction and sexual assault case of 2017. The Malayalam actor, who is the seventh accused in the case, and others, moved the court after a fresh case was registered against them following the disclosure of film director Balachandra Kumar.

The court witnessed fierce arguments and at one point the court observed that charges against the accused that they conspired to finish off the police officer were difficult to stand the test of law if they were merely based on the statement of the director. The court also directed the prosecution to file a detailed report on questioning in a sealed cover before Thursday. The defense lawyer argued that a conspiracy charge was foisted on the accused without any proof after the investigation team found that its contentions in the main case were weak.

But the prosecution insisted that custodial interrogation was needed to unravel the case and the accused may try to influence witnesses using money and muscle power. At this point the court said conspiracy and inducements were two different things and a mere statement that someone would be killed cannot be taken as an inducement.

The sensational case took a fresh turn after director Balachandra Kumars disclosure and he also released some audio tapes. The crime branch later registered a fresh case against Dileep and four others for allegedly plotting a conspiracy to eliminate the police officer Baiju Paulose. The conversation allegedly took place in November 2017 at the actors house in Aluva in Ernakulam district, crime branch said in its first information report.

The new FIR was filed against six Dileep, his brother Anoop, another relative Suraj, and two others (Appu and Babu) and they were charged under the Indian Penal Code sections 116 (abetment of offence), 118 (concealing design to commit an offense ), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

After Kumars revelations the Kerala government approached the Supreme Court two weeks back with a plea to extend the trial for six more months.

Kumar, a former friend of actor Dileep, claimed last month that the actor was in possession of the video of the assault on a woman actor and that he tried to influence many witnesses in the case. He also alleged that he had met the main accused in the case, Pulsar Suni, at the residence of actor Dileep in 2016 when he had gone there to discuss a film project. Later the prosecution recorded his statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

A leading woman actor was waylaid, kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a criminal gang in Kochi while she was returning home after a shooting assignment in 2017. Six months after the incident, Dileep was arrested and made an accused in the case. Prosecution alleged that the attack was planned at the behest of Dileep to settle an old score with the woman actor. In four years, the high-profile case has witnessed many twists and turns.