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Eight years ago, a top female actor was kidnapped and sexually assaulted in a moving car in Kerala’s Kochi. A couple of months later, Dileep, a superstar in the Malayalam industry, was arrested, accused of masterminding the crime.
From then, the case has seen a host of dramatic twists and turns. From multiple petitions at different courts to witnesses turning hostile, the journey has not been a simple one.
The case not just shocked the public but also led to many significant milestones in the history of Malayalam cinema, such as the formation of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) and the release of the Hema Committee report.
As we inch closer to the verdict, here is a complete timeline of the case and the milestones it set for the Malayalam film industry.
February 17, 2017: A fateful night
A top female actor, who has acted in films across all south Indian languages, was abducted and sexually assaulted by a group of men. The crime took place in a moving car in Kochi. The prime accused, Sunil Kumar, infamously known as Pulsar Suni, also recorded the crime as eight clips. Within 48 hours, three of the seven accused were arrested. Suni and the others were arrested a few days later.
April 2017: First chargesheet
The police filed the first charge sheet in the case, naming Pulsar Suni and six others as accused. There was no conspiracy or motive linked to the crime at this time.
May 2017: Women supporting women
A group of women actors in Malayalam cinema came together to support the survivor. They formed Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) to highlight the gender-related issues in the industry. They also met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to seek an investigation into the case and submitted a written appeal to address the workplace issues faced by women in the industry.
June 2017: A major plot twist
The case had its first major twist when a letter purportedly sent by Pulsar Suni surfaced. It was addressed to Dileep, a superstar in the industry who had worked with the survivor in several movies. In the letter, Suni said that he had not betrayed Dileep but blamed him for not arranging an advocate for him. He demanded money from Dileep.
Dileep denied all the allegations at first. In an interview with Reporter, a Malayalam channel, Dileep blamed the survivor, saying that she had been friends with Pulsar Suni. A few days later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by ADGP Sandhya and Aluva Rural SP AV George questioned Dileep and his friend Nadirshah for nearly 13 hours.
July 10, 2017: The fallout
The SIT arrested actor Dileep on July 10, 2017. The arrest shook the Malayalam film industry and Kerala.
Dileep is one of the most powerful insiders in Malayalam cinema. At the time of his arrest, he held the post of treasurer in the industry's top body, A.M.M.A. (Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes). But under pressure from the WCC, A.M.M.A. was forced to expel him. Soon, other major industry groups followed suit—including the Kerala Film Producers Association and FEFKA (Film Employees Federation of Kerala).
September 2017: Avalkkoppam (We stand with her)
By then, the Kerala society was divided on the issue, with people supporting either Dileep or the survivor. Dileep’s much-hyped movie Ramleela was released at the same time. This sparked a huge debate on social media, with many calling for a boycott of the film.
In the same month, WCC launched the ‘Avalkoppam’ (We Stand With Her) campaign in response to several industry bigwigs supporting Dileep. They launched the campaign at the state film award presenting ceremony.
After spending 85 days in jail and repeated bail pleas, Dileep was granted bail on October 3.
November 2017: A chargesheet and 50 witnesses
The investigation team filed a 650-page-long second chargesheet, naming 12 people as accused. Dileep was the eighth accused. It also named Manju Warrier, a leading actor and his ex-wife, as a key witness. In her statement, Manju said that Dileep's extramarital relationship with actor Kavya Madhavan was the reason for her divorce from him. Manju also said that it was the survivor who had revealed this to her, which is why Dileep had been angry with her.
The chargesheet also named over 50 other witnesses from the industry.
January 2018: The video evidence
Dileep approached the court demanding a copy of the sexual assault video. He told the court that he wanted to watch it and prove that he was innocent. But the Magistrate Court in Angamaly rejected the plea.
Meanwhile, the trial was shifted to the Ernakulam District Sessions Court.
In the same month, the Kerala government shuffled the top cadre of the state police, transferring out ADGP Sandhya, an officer who was part of the investigation team.
June 2018: Call back from A.M.M.A., Dileep asks for CBI probe
Prominent Malayalam actor Mohanlal was elected as president of A.M.M.A. They decided to let Dileep rejoin the organisation. Many actors expressed their disagreement. The survivor and three members of WCC quit A.M.M.A.
With the controversy spiralling out of control, Dileep declined the invitation.
Meanwhile, Dileep also moved the Kerala High Court, asking for the CBI to take over the case. He said he had no faith in the Kerala police.
August - December 2018: Stubborn about visuals
In the months that followed, Dileep relentlessly applied to courts to access the assault visuals. When the High Court rejected his plea, he moved the Supreme Court, demanding access.
The Kerala government pushed back, filing an affidavit saying that handing over the footage could risk a serious leak, one that would violate the survivor’s privacy and dignity.
In December 2018, the High Court rejected the plea for a CBI probe. Despite repeated setbacks, the actor kept trying to turn the legal process in his favour.
February 2019: Judge Honey Varghese
On the request of the survivor that a female judge preside over the case, the Kerala government appointed Sessions court Judge Honey M Varghese to hold the trial.
The survivor had approached both the High Court and the state government, requesting an in-camera trial as well.
May - December 2019: All about the visuals
In May, the Supreme Court stayed the trial to decide if Dileep can get visuals or not. The survivor then requested the apex court, asking not to provide the visuals in order to ensure a fair trial.
In November 2019, the Supreme Court finally refused to hand over the visuals to Dileep.
The court reasoned that Dileep and his lawyers had been allowed to watch it multiple times, and there was no reason to give him a copy.
Dileep examined the visuals thrice, in the presence of his counsel and an expert. After examining, he filed a petition seeking to be discharged from the case, claiming that the visuals are not authentic. But the court rejected his plea.
January - September 2020: Witnesses turn hostile, one by one
On January 6, charges were framed against Dileep and the other accused. After two days, in what seemed like a desperate attempt to delay the trial, he filed a fresh plea in court asking to stay the examination of witnesses.
As per Dileep’s request, the visuals were sent to a forensic science lab to verify their authenticity.
Almost three years after the incident, the trial began on January 30.
But soon, several witnesses turned hostile. This included actors Siddique, Bhama, Edavela Babu and Bindu Panicker. The turnaround came as a shock because these were the people who initially said they knew of Dileep’s anger towards the survivor.
October - December 2020: Suspecting bias
In an unprecedented move, the survivor moved the HC, seeking to transfer the trial proceedings to another court. She said that the court hearing the case was ‘biased’ and had a ‘hostile attitude’.
In a setback to the survivor, the HC turned down her plea. Criticising the judge’s biased approach, Special Public Prosecutor A Suresan resigned from the case. Later, VN Anilkumar was appointed as the SPP.
Even the Kerala government moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case, but the plea was dismissed.
December 2021: Second plot twist
When the case was almost starting to fall apart for the prosecution, a small-time director, Balachandrakumar, came out with allegations against Dileep.
He said that he saw Pulsar Suni, the first accused, at Dileep’s residence. He also alleged that Dileep, his family members and a VIP guest watched the sexual assault visual at the actor’s residence.
On the very next day, SPP Anilkumar quit the case. He, too, had a showdown with the judge in court.
January - February 2022: ‘I know I am not alone’ survivor speaks out
Dileep wrote to the Director General of Police not to investigate the case further. In his petition to the DGP, he raised allegations against Deputy Superintendent of Police Baiju Paulose, an investigating officer in the case, claiming that the latter had conspired against him based on Balachandrakumar’s claims.
After the big revelation, audio clips involving Dileep surfaced. Balachandrakumar recorded these while he was visiting Dileep. One audio clip had a man's voice, allegedly that of Dileep, saying that the five officials who investigated the case will be dealt with.
Based on the audio clips, an FIR was filed against Dileep for conspiring to harm the investigating officers. The Kerala government also constituted a new investigation team, and Dileep’s house was raided by the Crime Branch.
Amidst all this, the survivor spoke out in public for the first time, through her official social media page. She also wrote to the Supreme Court and the Chief Minister, expressing concerns that the assault visuals were leaked.
April 2022: New audio leaks
Soon, another set of call recordings emerged. This was allegedly Dileep's brother-in-law, Sooraj’s conversation with one of his lawyers. The conversation indicated that Dileep and his lawyers had watched the visuals of the woman actor’s sexual assault in detail.
The court had only allowed him to examine the visuals twice, so how did they manage to write a detailed note on it? This led to a major concern in the case that the sexual assault visuals were available outside the court premises.
Meanwhile, in a major reshuffle in the police department, ADGP Sreejith, who had been part of the new investigation post Balachandrakumar’s revelations, was transferred out of the Crime Branch.
May 2022: Hacker turned approver
Sai Shankar, a hacker involved in the case, turned approver and revealed that he had helped Dileep cover up data on their mobile phones.
The survivor moved the Kerala High Court against Judge Honey Varghese again. A day after this, Justice Kauser Edappagath recused himself from hearing her petition.
At the same time, a photo of Balachandrakumar with Dileep surfaced.
Balachandrakumar had said that he had met Dileep in Aluva in December 2016 and later, he, along with Dileep’s brother, had dropped Pulsar Suni at a bus stop. Though Dileep denied such a meeting, the prosecution submitted the photo as proof of their meeting.
June - October 2022: Visuals not safe?
A forensic report revealed that the visuals of sexual assault were accessed twice.
Though Judge Honey Varghese had gotten the first report in 2020, she did not inform the police or prosecution.
Another report that came out a month later revealed that it had been accessed three times.
The survivor wrote to the SC expressing concerns over the visuals getting leaked. Dileep moved the High Court seeking early completion of the trial. The Kerala Crime Branch moved the High Court seeking cancellation of his bail.
Meanwhile, Kerala HC refused to move the case to another court, citing a lack of evidence. Although the survivor moved to the Supreme Court, her petition was rejected again.
February - August 2023: Amicus Curiae
Dileep filed a petition to stop the hearing of the plea by the survivor to investigate the leaked visuals.
Kerala HC appointed advocate Renjith B Marar as amicus curiae to help the court in formulating guidelines to ensure the safety of electronic documents in judicial custody.
But he recused himself from the case, following allegations of conflict of interest by the prosecution.
February - April 2024: Memory card leak
A probe by a Sessions Court found that three people illegally accessed assault visuals while the memory card was in different courts. A magistrate and two court employees had accessed them. To date, no action has been taken against them.
The survivor moved the HC for an SIT probe into this unauthorised access, and she also spoke against this.
Pointing out that privacy was everyone’s fundamental right, the survivor alleged she was deprived of her basic constitutional rights when the hash value of the memory card changed multiple times while in the custody of the court.
August 2024: Hema report shocks the public
The Kerala Government released a heavily redacted version of the Hema Committee report – a first-of-its-kind report in India.
It addressed issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, revealing horrific stories of women being sexually exploited by ‘powerful’ men, including superstars.
Following the report, many women came forward with complaints against prominent figures in the industry. This included actors Siddique, Mukesh and Baburaj. Over 30 FIRs have been registered so far.
Continuing the domino effect of the report’s release, all the office bearers of the apex body A.M.M.A., including president Mohanlal, resigned from their posts.
December 2024: The whistleblower dies
Balachandrakumar, the crucial witness in the case, passed away on December 13, 2024, due to a kidney ailment.
February 2025: Trial ends
The trial concluded in February 2025. But hearings continued till December due to several clarifications that were raised.
Pulsar Suni was also shown the visuals of the assault again, because his lawyer wanted to listen to the audio again.
November 2025: The verdict
On November 25, the trial court announced that the verdict would be pronounced on December 8.
Also read: An orchestrated nightmare: A sexual assault that unmasked Malayalam cinema
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