Thiruvananthapuram: Malayalam superstar Dileep, who was arrested for allegedly plotting the kidnapping and sexual assault of a popular actress, has filed a bail plea before the Kerala High Court once again. The court had earlier rejected his bail application on July 24 citing the pending investigation in the case. The fresh plea will be heard on Friday.
In his petition, the actor alleged that there was a ‘large-scale conspiracy’ by a small but powerful section of the film industry and certain others who could manage police, media and political leaders to spread utter falsehood and malicious stories about him for months together.
The petition said that Dileep had strong opinions and beliefs about the film industry and took stand on issues concerning the larger interest of the society. This brought him into conflict with a section of the people in the film industry and they are now unleashing their vengeance, it said.
The bail plea also alleged that the plotting angle in the case may have surfaced at a meeting in Kochi after the sexual assault incident. He said his ex-wife Manju Warrier had said at the meeting that the assault was not a spontaneous crime and there was some conspiracy and this should be investigated. The statement, the petition argued, was misinterpreted on social media which gave rise to the notion that Dileep may be behind the crime.
Dileep also alleged that the special investigation team formed for the case had leaked out selective information. Without naming Warrier, the bail application said that officer ADGP B Sandya had close relations with an actress who in the initial stages of investigation had spoken of a conspiracy as if she had intimate knowledge about the case.
“He (Dileep) is only the unfortunate victim of an orchestrated media campaign and proceedings of a group of police officers acting on the pre-conceived notion of guilt of the petitioner and wanting to implicate him as an accused," the petition said.
“Continued detention will not serve any useful purpose for further investigation, if any, and that being so his further detention is unjust,” it said, adding that there were no reports of the actor threatening, influencing or trying to contact any witnesses, so his continued detention on the grounds of tampering evidence or influencing witnesses has no justification.
The actor also submitted that his continued detention was delaying the shooting and release of movies affecting the livelihood of people associated with them. He was arrested on July 10 and has been in custody since then.
"The accused is influential and is likely to tamper with the evidence if bail is granted at this stage," the court had said while rejecting his bail application earlier.
Dileep, who was charged under various sections of the IPC, including for hatching criminal conspiracy for abduction and assault of the actress in a moving car on February 17, is currently lodged in a jail in his home town Aluva.
The police have claimed that the conspiracy to abduct and assault the actress and film the act was hatched by Dileep and Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the case. In their remand application, they had also claimed that Dileep had a grudge against the actress for letting his former wife know about his alleged affairs and had hatched a conspiracy to take revenge way back in 2013.
Six persons, including Pulsar Suni, have been arrested in connection with the actress abduction and molestation case.
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