Relief for Malayalam actor Dileep in actress assault case, High Court refuses to cancel bail
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (Feb 28) refused to cancel the bail of actor Dileep in the actress assault case.
FollowKochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (Feb 28) denied cancellation of bail of Malayalam actor Dileep, the 8th accused in the actress assault case. The single bench headed by Justice  Sophie Thomas reviewed the government's plea to cancel the actor's bail.
The court, however, clarified that its remarks in the case should not affect the trial in any manner.
In the petition, the government alleged that Dileep tried to influence the witnesses and tried to tamper with the evidence after being released on bail. The government had approached the trial court with a demand to cancel Dileep's bail, however, it was rejected, following which they approached the High Court. Â
In his affidavit filed with the High Court, Dileep said that the government's claims in the bail cancellation petition were baseless and had already been dismissed by the court on multiple occasions. Dileep had stated that the trial court had already examined 259 prosecution witnesses and there was no reason to think that he would influence the investigating officer and the joint director of the forensic lab.
A related development is that the High Court has ordered the filing of an investigation report about the unauthorised access to a memory card that is crucial to the case. The High Court on Wednesday (Feb 21) ordered the District Sessions Judge to give the survivor a copy of the report after they had investigated the possibility of a hash value change on the memory card that contained the crime's visuals while it was in the court's chest. After the complainant requested a copy of the inquiry report from the court, Justice K Babu approved the plea. The investigation was completed in early January. When a memory card is accessed by many devices, the hash value is modified.
On February 17, 2017, a gang in Kochi kidnapped and sexually assaulted a Malayalam actor inside a moving vehicle. They recorded the attack on camera. Actor Dileep was detained and imprisoned for almost half a year due to his purported affiliation with the gang. The Supreme Court has ordered the Ernakulam trial court to conclude the trial by March 31, 2024.
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