Prominent actor Dileep, who is the 8th accused in the Malayalam actor assault case, has filed a writ appeal before the Kerala High Court asking for stay on all proceedings in the case against him for masterminding the abduction and assault of a female actor in February 2017. This writ appeal has been filed at a time when the trial in the case is slated to start on April 5, after many months of delay.
In a writ petition filed in August 2018, Dileep had asked for a CBI investigation in the case, arguing that he was being falsely implicated by Kerala police. Dileep said that the Kerala police had arrested all the accused and filed a chargesheet in April 2018, which did not include his name. However, a few months later, the investigation team changed and he was taken into custody on charges of conspiracy. A second charge sheet was filed in November 2017 which named him the 8th accused.
Dilee’s plea asking for a probe was dismissed by Justice Sunil Thomas in December 2018.
An advocate who was works with the survivor in the case told TNM that the writ appeal was yet another tactic to delay the case, as until the appeal is disposed off, for trial proceedings in the case may be stalled. Other than this latest writ appeal, Dileep has filed 12 pleas in different courts making all kinds of demands and thereby delaying the trial.
Arguing that the investigation was biased, Dileep’s writ appeal read, “The false implication of a person in a criminal offence is the worst form of injustice and a vitiated investigation is the precursor for miscarriage of criminal justice. As held by the Apex court, a trial based on partisan, motivated, one sided or biased investigation can hardly be a fair trial.”
This is not the first time that Dileep, who stands 8th accused in the case, has tried to delay the trial proceedings in the case. Earlier in March, Dileep had opposed a plea filed by the survivor asking for a woman judge to preside over the case and for the trial proceedings to be shifted to the CBI court in Ernakulam.
The survivor’s petition had been accepted by the High court, stating the the petition was legitimate and the counter plea by Dileep had been overruled.
Prior to this, in December 2018, Dileep moved the Supreme Court demanding the visuals of the attack on the female actor, that was allegedly captured by the main accused Pulsar Suni. The actor moved the top court after the Kerala High court ruled that the visuals of the attack cannot be handed over to him. In his plea, Dileep stated that the visuals have been doctored to deliberately trap him and he needs to access them to prove his innocence.