Actor Dileep’s flat at Ravipuram in Kochi was raided by the crime branch team on Tuesday, The New Indian Express reported. The police are currently investigating Dileep and his associates in connection with an alleged conspiracy to kill the officers who probed the 2017 female actor abduction and assault case.
According to the report, officials said that the raid was conducted with the Kerala High Court’s permission. The search operation began at around 12.15 pm and continued till evening. It was launched based on the allegations of filmmaker Balachandra Kumar, who had earlier told the police that Dileep and two others hatched the conspiracy to kill the investigating officers at the flat.
Meanwhile, on the same day, as per the Kerala HC’s direction, the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Aluva received the six mobile phones of Dileep and the other accused. The magistrate court will in turn send the phones for forensic examination.
While hearing Dileep’s anticipatory bail plea on Tuesday afternoon, the High court Justice Gopinath P ordered the HC Registrar General to transfer the phones of the accused to the magistrate court in a sealed cover. The judge observed that he did not want to create an impression that the accused in this case are getting more protection than an ordinary accused would.
The investigating officer confirmed that five of the mobile phones produced before the court were the ones sought by the prosecution. The IMEI number of the sixth phone, however, could not be verified.
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Director-General of Prosecution TA Shaji said that the investigation team had identified some more phones used by the accused from the call detail records. Dileep’s counsel, however, stated that one of the phones used by the actor was not with them.
The prosecutor also told the court that the accused were not cooperating with the investigation and hence, the probe could not be taken forward. According to Shaji, the investigating officials had told him that Dileep, at one point during his interrogation, said that he would not cooperate with the probe.
Noting that ample material was available against them, the prosecutor argued that custodial interrogation of the accused persons, including Dileep, was necessary to unearth the conspiracy angle.
The next hearing on the anticipatory bail plea is scheduled for Thursday.
For a full timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.