Won't Arrest Actor Dileep Till Next Hearing Date : Kerala Police To High Court

The Director-General of Prosecution T.A Shaji has given an undertaking to the Kerala High Court on Friday that Malayalam actor Dileep will not be arrested till the next hearing date (January 18) in the case registered by the Kerala Police, where he has been booked for conspiring to kill police officers investigating the sensational 2017 sexual assault case.

The developments ensued in the anticipatory bail plea filed by the actor. Concurrently, Dileep is facing trial as the alleged mastermind of the abduction and the sexual assault of a female actress in a moving car in 2017.

Since the undertaking was given by the DGP, Justice Gopinath P. did not pass any orders in the matter. It was orally remarked that the actor should therefore not be apprehended before the next posting date, which was decided to be Tuesday at 1:45 pm. 

Senior Advocate B Raman Pillai appeared for Dileep and indicated that the raid conducted by the Police at his residence yesterday at midnight may have been excessive.  

However, the Court noted that this was conducted in the strength of a warrant issued by the Magistrate Court. The Senior counsel did not dispute the same but pointed out that the manner of this raid was questionable. 

In the last hearing of the case, the actor had claimed that the entire case was a 'mockery'.

Earlier this month, director Balachandra Kumar had released audio recordings of people including Dileep trying to sabotage the case and obstruct the trial. In his statement, he added that Dileep and his men tried to endanger the lives of the officials.

Following his statements, the trial court had collected a confidential statement from the director.

Consequently, Dileep and five men were booked under Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offence), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) r/w Section 34 (common intention) of IPC. The new case was filed under non-bailable sections.

Apprehending arrest, Dileep, his brother P. Sivakumar and his brother-in-law T.N.Suraj have approached the Court praying for anticipatory bail.

The application was filed through Advocates Philip T. Varghese, Thomas T. Varghese, Achu Shubha Abraham, Litha V.T, Monisha K.R and Nitya R.

The applicants had claimed that they are innocent and have been falsely implicated in the said offences. They have asserted that the registration of the said FIR directly by the Crime Branch is 'nothing but a vindictive and retaliatory act' of Crime Branch DySp Baiju Paulose.

This is in light of the fact that Dileep had recently initiated contempt of court proceedings against Paulose for allegedly causing obstruction to the administration of justice. The Additional Special Judge has issued notice in this petition on 4th January.

Dileep had further claimed in his application that his 80-year old mother is very sick and suffers from old age ailments including Alzheimer's. He added that his elder daughter is an MBBS student and his younger daughter is aged 3.

Case Title: P Gopalakrishnan alias Dileep & Ors. v State of Kerala & Ors.