The Kerala High Court, on Friday, directed the union and state governments to submit their stance on actor Dileep’s petition to quash the FIR against him in the conspiracy to murder case. The single-judge bench consisting of justice K Haripal issued the directive while considering the actor’s plea.
The FIR in question was registered by the Kerala police on January 9, based on allegations raised by filmmaker Balachandra Kumar. Audio clips released by Kumar allegedly reveal a plot by Dileep and his associates to kill the officers who investigated the 2017 female actor abduction and assault case. Dileep is currently facing trial as the chief conspirator behind the abduction and assault of the female actor in February 2017.
Dileep and the others accused in the new FIR sought and obtained anticipatory bail from the Kerala High Court. When granting them pre-arrest bail, the court observed that there appeared to be no material to suggest that the accused had been engaged in a criminal conspiracy to target the investigating officers.
After this, on February 14, the actor moved the HC to quash the FIR against him in the conspiracy to murder case. In his plea, Dileep alleged that the FIR was “a vindictive, ill-motivated, pre-determined and malafide act executed with oblique motives.” He also claimed that the case was registered simply to fabricate evidence in the actor assault case.
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Further noting that the petitioners in the case are all senior officials in the police department and thus a “fair, unbiased, non-partisan and honest investigation” was unlikely if carried out by the Kerala police, he appealed for the case to be transferred to the CBI instead, in the event of the court not quashing the FIR.
In view of this, the court has now sought the opinions of the state and central governments.
Meanwhile, Dileep had also filed another plea with the HC seeking to suspend all further investigation in the female actor abduction and assault case, in order to expedite the trial. When this plea came up for hearing on Tuesday, the survivor requested the court to hear her before passing an order. The matter is next scheduled for hearing on Monday.
For a full timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.