Owing to lack of evidence, the Kerala high court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to Malayalam actor Dileep and four others in connection with the conspiracy to eliminate the police officer who was investigating his involvement in a woman actor’s abduction and assault case.
The crime branch had filed the case in this regard last month. While granting the bail, the court directed the actor and other accused to co-operate with the going investigation.The accused were also asked to surrender their passports and were warned against flouting the bail norms.
The single bench of justice P Gopinath observed that there was no material evidence to suggest that the accused had committed the offence of criminal conspiracy.
“For an offence of abetment, something must be done. There is no material to suggest that an act or illegal omission had occurred for the accused to be charged with the offence,” the court said, adding, charges under Section 118 (concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) will not be applicable.
The latest decision is a setback to the prosecution, which has been insisting for custodial interrogation of the accused. The 2017 abduction and assault case took a new turn last month after director Balachandra Kumar claimed that Dileep was in possession of the assault video and had tried to influence the witnesses in the case.
He also claimed that he was privy to a conversation that allegedly took place in November 2017 at the actor’s flat in Kochi to eliminate the police officer investigating the case. Kumar also released some audio clips to buttress his claim.
But Dileep contended that one of the investigating officers was behind the move. He said new a case was hoisted on him after the prosecution found that its contentions in the assault case were weak. The fresh case came up at a time when the trial in the assault case was to conclude (on February 16).
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 in the case. Prosecution alleged that the attack was planned at the behest of Dileep to settle an old score with the woman.
