The Kerala high court will pronounce the verdict in actor Dileep’s plea in the conspiracy to murder case within one week.
Actor Dileep was booked for allegedly conspiring to kill the police officers who investigated his involvement in the 2017 Female actor abduction and assault case. The FIR was filed based on allegations raised by filmmaker Balachandra Kumar. Dileep then moved the High Court seeking to quash the case or transfer the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The plea was heard by Justice Ziyad Rahman AA over three days, from Tuesday to Thursday. On the third day, after hearing both sides, the judge stated that he would pass the order within one week. He also confirmed with the Director-General of Prosecution (DGP) TA Shaji that the investigation would not be completed before the order is passed.
On Thursday, the DGP stated that the mere agreement to do a criminal act is sufficient to prove the offence of criminal conspiracy. When Dileep’s counsel Siddarth Agarwal claimed that there were malafide motives behind registering this case, the prosecution argued that there was no evidence to prove this.
The court questioned why there was a delay from filmmaker Kumar’s side in making the revelations. To this, the prosecution reiterated that Kumar was close to Dileep back then as they both had planned to work on a film.
When the judge asked if the delay suggests any ill motive on the director’s part, Shaji said that this matter is subject to investigation and noted that unlike other cases of conspiracy, in this case, there is a person [Balachandra Kumar] who had directly witnessed the plot.
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Highlighting that the accused had tampered with evidence, Shaji stated that around 32 contacts were deleted in one of the phones submitted for forensic examination. He also mentioned that some of the details of the probe cannot be disclosed now as it may affect the trial.
He argued that the accused cannot seek to change the investigation agency as the allegation of bias probe is not true. He stated that the accused can be assured that the probe team is conducting an impartial investigation abiding by the law.
In previous hearings, Dileep’s counsel had questioned how one person, investigating officer Baiju Paulose, can be the victim, complainant and also probing officer in the case. He raised concern over many of Dileep’s family members being targeted in this case and the frequent raids at his home.
For a full timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.