The Kerala High Court rejected actor Dileep’s bail plea in the actress abduction-cum-rape case.
Sources said the prosecution succeeded in convincing the court that granting bail to the popular actor who wields a clout in the industry will help him influence the witnesses.
Reiterating that it has substantial evidence against the actor, the prosecution described this as an unprecedented case as criminals were hired to brutally attack a woman owing to enmity. The prosecution cited the brutality in the way the crime was planned and executed. Moreover, the investigation was in a crucial stage. The actor’s manager Apunni has to be arrested. The mobile phone and memory card has to be recovered.
The prosecution claim is that the actor hatched a conspiracy to abduct and shoot indecent visuals of the young actress. Dileep nursed ire against the actress for allegedly wrecking his marriage with Manju Warrier. The actress was privy to Dileep’s relationship with actress Kavya Madhavan about which she allegedly briefed Manju Warrier. Dileep subsequently married Kavya Madhavan.
Dileep assigned the job to ‘Pulsar’ Suni alias Sunil Kumar who was involved in similar cases in the past.
The defence argued that there is no evidence against Dileep and the motive behind his arrest was to ruin his career. It submitted that the actor was questioned by a police team for 13 hours few days before his arrest. He was again questioned for 10 hours on the day of his arrest.
With the court rejecting his bail petition, Dileep will continue remain in jail. He will be produced before judicial magistrate on Tuesday. Meanwhile, he is likely to move a division bench or the Supreme Court for bail.
A magistrate court in Angamaly on Saturday denied bail to the actor and remanded him in judicial custody till July 25.
The case was filed by the leading Malayalam actress after abducted by a gang in a pre-planned strike on the night of February 17 while she was heading for Kochi from Thrissur in a car. The gang sexually harassed the actress in a moving van for about 45 minutes before she was let go near Palarivattom. The actress plucked up courage to immediately lodge a police complaint.
