The Kerala High Court on Monday granted anticipatory bail to actor Dileep and the other accused in the conspiracy to murder case filed against them.
The single-judge bench consisting of Justice Gopinath P passed the order. The judge observed that the prosecution’s apprehensions regarding the accused not cooperating with the investigation can be addressed by imposing conditions and in case of any violation of these conditions, they can then apply for the arrest of the accused.
On January 9, the Kerala crime branch had filed a new FIR against Dileep and his associates for allegedly conspiring to kill the police officials who investigated the 2017 female actor abduction and assault case, in which Dileep is named as the eighth accused. The FIR was filed based on allegations raised by filmmaker Balachandra Kumar.
Following this, on January 10, the accused moved the Kerala High court seeking pre-arrest bail in this FIR.
Since then, there have been several hearings on this matter. Senior Advocate Raman Pillai B represented Dileep, while TA Shaji was the Director-General of Prosecution.
During the last hearing on Friday, Shaji argued that custodial interrogation is essential, as the accused might otherwise tamper with the evidence and influence witnesses. The prosecution also brought up new audio clips in which Dileep is allegedly heard conspiring to kill the investigating officials. According to Shaji, in one audio clip, Dileep is heard saying that all the probing officers should be “killed in a group,” while in another clip, the actor can be heard saying that he wants to “burn these cops.”
Shaji also said that this case holds significance as it has an eyewitness: filmmaker Balachandrakumar, who has seen the hatching of the alleged conspiracy. He also claimed that the accused refused to cooperate during the police investigation.
On the other hand, Dileep’s counsel Pillai argued that if the accused were taken into custody, they might be probed about the sexual assault case. He also claimed that most of the allegations were cooked up to frame the actor and said there are discrepancies in Kumar’s statements.
It may be noted that before taking up Dileep’s bail case, Pillai represented Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was recently acquitted of charges of raping a nun, in a lower court.
Meanwhile, the female Malayalam actor who was abducted and sexually assaulted in 2017 has moved the Supreme Court seeking a probe into the alleged leaking of crime visuals from a lower court in the past.
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Update: The bail conditions imposed by the court on Dileep and the other accused have been released. These include signing separate bonds for a sum of Rs 1 lakh each, appearing before investigation officers at the crime branch police station as and when summoned to do so, co-operating with the probe, and being available for interrogation whenever required.
The order also states that the petitioners shall not tamper with any evidence or influence any witness. It further requires them to surrender their passports and not be involved in any other crime while on bail. Any violation of these conditions would give the investigating officers liberty to seek the cancellation of the pre-arrest bail.
For a full timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.