In a major relief for actor Dileep, a Kerala court on Monday acquitted him in the abduction and rape of an actress in 2017.
Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Judge Honey M. Varghese delivered the verdict after completing the trial proceedings, which began in January 2020.
The 10 accused who faced trial are Sunil NS alias Pulsar Suni, Martin Antony, Manikandan B, Vijesh VP, Salim H, Pradeep, Charly Thomas, actor Dileep (real name P Gopalakrishnan), Sanil Kumar alias Mesthri Sanil and G. Sharath.
What is the case about?
A prominent actress, who worked in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car by a group of men for nearly two hours in Kochi on the night of February 17, 2017.
The accused were arrested soon after the incident, and police filed the first chargesheet in April 2017. Dileep was arrested on July 10, 2017, after the probe team found that the prime accused, Suni, had contacted him from jail. Dileep was granted bail on October 3, 2017.
In November 2017, police filed a supplementary chargesheet against seven more persons, including Dileep. Five of them were later discharged or turned approvers.
The trial began in 2020 after the Kerala High Court a petition filed by Dileep seeking a CBI probe into the incident.
A total of 261 witnesses were examined during the trial, including several from the film industry. Many actor-witnesses turned hostile. The investigation officer alone was examined for 109 days. The court admitted 834 documents and two defence witnesses.
Two key witnesses - former MLA PT Thomas and director Balachandra Kumar- died during the trial stage.
The prosecution claimed that Dileep had animosity with the victim after she allegedly informed Manju Warrier, the actor’s first wife, about his affairs with another acrtor. It said Dileep hatched a conspiracy to harm the actress after they had an intense quarrel during the rehearsal of a stage event in 2016.
