Actor Dileep’s car was seized and taken to Nedumbassery police station, on Friday, by the special investigation team (SIT) of the crime branch, which is probing the 2017 female actor abduction and sexual assault case.
Dileep is facing trial as the chief conspirator behind the assault.
Balachandra Kumar, a filmmaker and a former friend of the accused, earlier alleged that in 2016, he had travelled in the now-seized car along with Dileep’s brother Anoop and Pulsar Suni, the first accused in the case. It may be noted that after almost five years, at the end of 2021, the female actor assault case gained momentum again based on the allegations levelled against Dileep by Kumar. The latter claimed that Dileep had watched the video of the sexual assault at his house; that the actor knew Suni; and that Dileep had influenced some of the significant witnesses in the case who later turned hostile during trial.
In an exclusive interaction with Reporter TV in December 2021, Kumar said that he saw Suni at Dileep’s house. He added that when he and Anoop had gone to get food in the car, Dileep had asked them to drop Suni at a bus stop. Kumar also said that he had a chat with Suni after Anoop introduced them.
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In addition to seizing the car, the SIT has also reportedly recovered a letter that Suni wrote to Dileep, while the former was in District Jail in Kakkanad in May 2018. In the two-page letter, dated May 5, 2018, Suni said that he would confess his offence and was ready to face the verdict in court. According to officials, Suni had passed the letter to one of his cellmates, Sajith, asking him to hand it over to Dileep. However, Sajith was unable to meet Dileep and he tried to give it to the latter’s lawyer. But, the lawyer returned it. The letter was recovered from Sajith’s house at Kunnamkulam in Thrissur.
Earlier, Suni’s mother had given a copy of this letter to the officials who are investigating the conspiracy to murder case. As the letter does not contain any name or signature, the probing team visited Suni in Viyyur Central Jail and recorded a sample of his handwriting. It has been sent for forensic examination.
For a full timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.