The Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined the petition seeking quashing of the first information report (FIR) filed against Malayalam actor Dileep for allegedly conspiring to murder the police officers investigating the 2017 actress assault case, in which he was an accused.
A Single-Judge Bench of Justice Ziyad Rahman AA passed the order on the plea seeking quashing of FIRs against him and five others.
The actor, along with his associates, are already being tried by at the Additional Sessions (CBI special No III) Court in Ernakulam for allegedly planning and executing revenge against a popular actress by having her abducted, sexually assaulted and photographed in a moving vehicle.
The trial, which was about to be completed, hogged the limelight when Director Balachandra Kumar, gave an interview to the media, releasing some audio clips, indicating close association between the 8th accused in the case (Dileep) and first accused, Pulsar Suni.
The clips and Kumar’s statements allegedly revealed a conspiracy to kill the police officers, who were involved in the investigation of the actress assault case.
This led to registration of a fresh FIR against Dileep and five others for offences punishable under Sections 116 (offering bribe to public servant), 118 (concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The Kerala High Court had granted anticipatory bail to the accused, including Dileep, on February 7.
Subsequently, he approached the High Court to quash further investigation into the 2017 actress assault case but the same was declined by the Court.
Dileep later approached the Court by way of the present petition, seeking quashing of all further proceedings in the case of alleged conspiracy to murder police officers.
Alternatively, he also prayed that the investigation in the case be transferred from the Crime Branch of the State Police to another investigating agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Dileep was represented by Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal and advocates Philip T Varghese, Thomas T Varghese, Achu Shubha Abraham, Litha VT, Monisha KR and Nitya R.
The Prosecution was led by Director General of Prosecution, Senior Advocate TA Shaji, instructed by Senior Public Prosecutor P Narayanan.
Case name: P Gopalakrishnan @ Dileep v State of Kerala & Ors