Actor assault case: Kerala HC junks Dileeps demand for CBI probe

Kochi: In the 2017 actor assault case, the Kerala High Court dismissed accused actor Dileep’s plea, demanding a CBI investigation into the case. In 2018, the court dismissed his plea seeking a CBI probe, and he moved an appeal in March 2019, The News Minute reported.

Dileep is the eighth accused in the actor assault case, in which a woman actor was abducted in a car, was taken around in it and was sexually assaulted for two hours. The assaulters filmed the entire act to leverage and blackmail the victim. Dileep is accused of being the mastermind of the conspiracy behind the crime.

Live Law reported that while hearing Dileep’s appeal, the court observed that the actor sought repeated adjournments in the appeal. A bench of Justices AM Mustaque and P Krishna Kumar dismissed the appeal, stating that the trial before the Principal District and Sessions Court in Ernakulam is nearing completion. However, the bench had quashed certain observations of the single judge who earlier dismissed his plea, saying that the matters are to be decided at the appropriate stage. The details of the observations are awaited, TNM reported.

Dileep moved Kerala High Court demanding a CBI investigation in the case, alleging that the Kerala police’s investigation was biased. He pointed out that police failed to retrieve the original video of the actor’s assault, as recorded by the key accused, Pulsar Suni, on his mobile phone. Dileep also argued that police failed to recover the original video and the phone on which it was recorded. He claimed that the police were attempting to suppress the truth about the case.