Kerala

Setback for Dileep: Kerala court orders FIR in D Cinemaas land encroachment row

Written by : TNM Staff

In a setback for Malayalam actor Dileep, a Kerala court on Thursday ordered an FIR to be filed against him, on the allegations of encroaching government land. 

The case pertains to land encroachment allegations against D Cinemaas, a movie theatre owned by Dileep that is located at Chalakkudy in Thrissur district. 

On Thursday, a vigilance court in Thrissur rejected a report filed by the Vigilance Department, giving a clean chit to the actor in the encroachment allegation. In its report, the Vigilance Department stated that it was not able to find any discrepancies and also reportedly found that there were no unauthorised constructions in D Cinemaas. 

Rejecting the report, the court then ordered the Vigilance Department to register an FIR in the case and carry out a detailed investigation. 

The quick verification was carried out by the Vigilance Department, after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by activist PD Joseph at the vigilance court last year. According to the PIL, Dileep allegedly encroached close to 1 acre of poramboke land. This land, according to the PIL, belonged to a temple and was meant to construct oottupura (lunch hall) and that Dileep encroached on the land in 2015. This was filed a few weeks after Dileep was arrested in the controversial abduction and alleged sexual assault of a leading woman actor in the industry. 

Following the PIL, revenue officials conducted a survey on the land based on a directive issued by Revenue Minister Chandrasekharan. The team led by Chalakudy Tahsildar PS Madhussodhanan had, however, found that no encroachment had taken place and subsequently gave a clean chit to the actor. A survey of the land was conducted, following which the officials had rejected allegations of encroachments. According to regional media channels, the Vigilance Department relied on this survey report, while submitting their report to the court. 

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