Defending himself in the case of abduction and sexual assault case of a prominent Malayalam actor, actor Dileep's lawyers have gone on the offensive. After claiming that the allegation was a conspiracy against him, the actor has now fired his latest salvo: He claims, that the entire case is a revenge plot by his ex-wife, Manju Warrier.
In his bail plea submitted to the Kerala High Court court on Thursday, Dileep claimed that he does not know prime accused Pulsar Suni and that there was a conspiracy against him by certain sections of the film industry. TNM had on Thursday reported in detail about this:
Now, further details from the bail application has emerged. He has dragged in his former wife Manju Warrier and ad-film maker VA Shrikumar Menon in the picture. He has also made grave allegations against the investigating officer ADGP B Sandhya.
"The main folly committed by the petitioner is the false belief entertained by him that police force is an impartial and unbiased agency. Only now the petitioner realises the extent to which investigating agency will stoop for extraneous extend at the insistence of senior police officers. It is pertinent to point out that ADGP Sandhya is understood to be a person very close to the Malayalam cine actress who, at the very initial stage of the investigation openly made a statement that there is a conspiracy in the case as if she had direct knowledge about it. The actress had come out in public against her close association with ADGP Sandhya," reads the bail plea.
The reference to the Malayalam cine actress is to his former wife and actor Manju Warrier. After the incident that happened on February 17, members of the film fraternity including Manju Warrier had come out in support of the woman actor and had held a gathering in Durbar Hall in Kochi.
Addressing the audience, Manju had then said there was a conspiracy.
Interestingly, Dileep was also among the few actors who were on the dais and spoke in solidarity with the woman actor.
Manju and Shrikumar Menon
The petition argues that Dileep has an 18-year-old daughter and that he would not even think about hurting a woman colleague.
"The daughter who had been living with her parents for 15 years had whole heartedly chosen not to go with her mother (Manju Warrier) but to live with the petitioner throughout her life. This single aspect speaks volumes about the character of the petitioner," it is argued.
In the application, Dileep also drags in ad-film maker Shrikumar Menon, by alleging that he had a "dark role to play in Dileep's life."
Shrikumar Menon, a popular ad-film maker is coming up with his debut film Odiyan, in which actors Mohanlal and Manju Warrier will play the lead roles. Shrikumar will also be directing Mahabharata, a film based on MT Vasudevan Nair's popular novel Randamoozham.
"Shrikumar Menon who is famous for his connection with various media and corporate houses, and has a pivotal role for arranging finances for various large business establishments in Kerala, had a dark role to play in Dileep's life. Shrikumar has had grave enmity to the petitioner, on account of the fact that Dileep had chosen to paint him black and white in the divorce proceedings initiated against Manju Warrier," reads the petition.
In this context, Dileep claims in the application that he was called in by the police on July 10 asking him to give details about Shrikumar Menon. "It was a trap and the petitioner was subsequently arrested." says the bail plea.
Dileep alleges that the camera that was recording his statement suddenly stopped working when he began speaking about Shrikumar Menon.
However, the petition makes no mention of how any of these people are connected to the case at hand.
Liberty Basheer
Elaborating on the controversy regarding the month-long strike by theatre owners led by Liberty Basheer, Dileep claims in his bail plea that certain people were waiting for opportunities to take revenge against him.
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Liberty Basheer
The petition says that Liberty Basheer was running the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation as his own personal property and had issues with Dileep for opposing the monopoly.
"The petitioner was certain about his beliefs and expressed his ideas strongly and forcefully which led to some in the film industry characterizing him as an opinionated person. He entertained strong opinions and beliefs about the film industry and took uncompromising stands in issues which concerned the larger interest of film industry. This brought him in conflict with a section of people in the film industry who were thriving with monopolistic and unfair practices. This powerful and very influential section have found their empires crushing and have been conspiring and waiting for opportunities to unleash their vengeance against the petitioner," reads the petition.
Other Allegations
Kerala police had alleged that Dileep had hidden the communication he received from Pulsar Suni and had filed a complaint 20 days later.
In his bail plea, Dileep argues that this is false and that he had on the same day informed the state DGP about the blackmail letter.
The petition says that Dileep is being targeted and branded as an encroacher, as a man who will go to any extend to wreck vengeance and who is feared by many in the film industry.
These are baseless rumours and gossips, claims the bail plea. D Cinemas- a theatre owned by Dileep in Thrissur's Chalakkudy, had come under the scanner following allegations of land encroachment. Dileep's bail plea claims that revenue and survey authorities have thoroughly verified and found that "the allegations are wholly unsustainable."