Actor Dileep on Sunday appeared before the Crime Branch for questioning in a case against him and four others for allegedly threatening the investigative officers probing the 2017 actor attack case, in which he is an accused.
The Kerala High Court had on Saturday asked Dileep and other accused—his brother P. Sivakumar (Anoop), brother-in-law T.N. Suraj, friend Baiju Chengamanad and driver Appu—to appear before the investigating officers on January 23, 24 and 25 for interrogation in the case.
According to Manorama News, the actor and other accused reached the District Crime Branch office at Kalamassery in Kochi before 9am on Sunday.
The Crime Branch registered the case on January 9, based on a complaint filed by an investigating officer—Baiju Poulos—based on a purported audio clip of Dileep, which was telecast by a TV channel in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to attack the officer.
The actor and four others were booked under various provisions of the IPC, including Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (criminal act done by several people).
Following the development, the actor and others approached the High Court seeking anticipatory bail.
After a long hearing on Saturday, the court ruled that Dileep and others have to appear before the police probe team for three days starting Sunday for further questioning.
The court also ordered that the actor should not be arrested till January 27 and on that day, the director general of prosecution should in a sealed cover hand over the details of the three days of questioning.
The court then posted the case for January 27. Dileep's friend Sarath had also approached the court for anticipatory bail in the case. However, the court deferred hearing the plea as the prosecution informed the court that he had not been charged in the case.
The court said Dileep should present himself before the Crime Branch probe team from 9am till 8pm and any attempt on his part to tamper with or influence the case in any manner will result in cancellation of his bail.
The fresh twist in the actress abduction case in which Dileep is an accused came early this month after film director Balachandrakumar made fresh statements related to the case, which included that Dileep and his close aides had conspired to even attack the police official who probed the case. He also alleged that Dileep, soon after being released on bail, saw the visuals—which showed the beleaguered actress who was kidnapped being physically attacked by her tormentors, while she was abducted.
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Until this time, it was only the trial court that had seen this. Based on these disclosures, the police probe team registered a fresh case and Dileep, sensing that he might be arrested, sought anticipatory bail.
(This article was originally published in onmanorama)
