Actress assault case: No relief for Malayalam actor Dileep
Dileep had filed a petition seeking quashing of a case filed against him for allegedly plotting to assassinate the officers investigating the attack on the actress.
FollowIn a major setback for Malayalam actor Dileep, the Kerala High Court has refused to stay the probe into the actress assault case and directed the Crime Branch probe into the matter should continue.
Dileep had filed a petition seeking quashing of a case filed against him for allegedly plotting to assassinate the officers investigating the attack on the actress.Â
A Malayalam actor was on February 17, 2017, allegedly kidnapped and sexually abused inside her car for two hours. Dileep was among the 10 accused persons in the case. Dileep was among the seven arrested but later released on bail. The victim accused them of reportedly filming the assault to blackmail her.
Also Read:Â Actor Dileep destroyed 12 WhatsApp chats in murder conspiracy case: Crime Branch
The controversy took another twist when filmmaker Balachandrakumar in January this year released a purported audio clip in which Dileep could allegedly be heard telling some people to 'wait to see how the five investigating officers are going to suffer'.Â
Following this, the Kerala Police had registered another case against Dileep for allegedly conspiring to kill the investigating officers.
More recently, the Crime Branch had claimed that Dileep had erased 12 WhatsApp chats on one of the phones in connection with the murder conspiracy audio clip case.
Dileep had filed an affidavit in the court on Wednesday stating that the prosecution's claim that he had destroyed evidence in the case was false. Dileep claimed that what was removed from the phones were private conversations unrelated to the case.Â
The affidavit also stated that DySP Baiju Paulose -- the officer investigating the 2017 actor assault case -- had threatened his assistant, who was working at his house.Â
Dileep also denied the statement given by Dileep's watchman Dasan that his lawyers had influenced him to testify in his favour. However, the prosecution told the court that Dileep had destroyed crucial information on the phones in the days leading up to the handover.
Also Read:Â Kerala actress speaks about 'sexual assault case'
Cyber expert will be questioned
Meanwhile, the probe team will soon question Sai Shankar, the cyber expert who allegedly destroyed Dileep's phone records. As part of this, a crime branch team including cyber experts is conducting an inspection at Sai Shankar's house in Kozhikode.Â
The crime branch has claimed that Sai Shankar destroyed the documents in the lawyer's office. There are indications that Dileep had the information on the phone which was not handed over to the court.Â
The Kochi bureau reports that the investigation team found some information on the phone. A notice has been issued to Sai Shankar asking him to appear at the crime branch office on Friday.
