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Court rejects plea to cancel Dileep’s bail in conspiracy case
Dileep’s counsel argued that there was no proof to establish that he influenced the witnesses, and the new case was part of a larger design prepared by the prosecution since its contentions in the 2017 case failed to make an impact.
A trial court in Kochi on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by the prosecution of the ongoing actor abduction and assault to cancel the anticipatory bail of actor Dileep in the fresh conspiracy case against him and several others.
The prosecution said the actor was trying to influence some of the witnesses in the fresh conspiracy case related to the original 2017 actor assault and abduction case, and it will affect the ongoing investigation. It also said custodial interrogation was necessary as he violated bail provisions set by the court.
But Dileep’s counsel argued that there was no proof to establish that he influenced the witnesses, and the new case was part of a larger design prepared by the prosecution since its contentions in the 2017 case failed to make an impact.
After hearing both sides in detail, trial court judge Honey M Varghese rejected the petition. The prosecution had moved the court to cancel his bail in April after the new case came up in January.
As the trial in the 2017 actor assault case was about to end in January, a new case surfaced after the disclosure of Malayalam director Balachandra Kumar. He told police that he met the prime accused in actor assault case Pulsar Suni at actor Dileep’s residence in 2016 when he went to discuss a new project and also claimed that the latter had a video clipping of the assault, and he once invited him to see it.
He also allegedly said he was privy to a conversation that took place in Dileep’s house, in which he heard about a conspiracy to eliminate officials who investigated the 2017 case.
Soon after the new disclosure last December, prosecution moved the trial court for a fresh investigation, and the court asked it to file a new case.
Dileep, his brother, brother-in-law and two aides were booked under charges of conspiracy, destroying evidence and influencing witnesses in the criminal case.
In March, high court rejected Dileep’s plea to quash the fresh case, but later it granted pre-arrest bail and advised him to co-operate with the ongoing probe.
The sensational actor assault case took place in February 2017 when a leading south Indian woman actor was abducted and assaulted in a moving vehicle in Kochi by a criminal gang.
Later, the gang members were arrested, and police made Dileep the eighth accused in the case on charges that the crime was carried out at his behest.
