There is another twist in the case of the Malayalam actor’s abduction and sexual assault in February 2017.
Actor Dileep on Saturday claimed that a man named Vishnu, who was a friend of Pulsur Suni, the main accused in the case, blackmailed him and director Nadirsha. According to Dileep, Vishnu demanded money for not ‘revealing’ his name.
"Vishnu told us that there was tremendous pressure on Suni to name Dileep. Though Dileep had nothing to do with the crime, Suni was demanding money to not name Dileep," Nadirsha told media.
The female star who had been abducted and Dileep have had a strained relationship, that had initially led to speculations of his alleged involvement.
Both Dileep and Nadirsha said that Vishnu demanded Rs 1.5 crore over phone, the audio clip of which, was submitted along with the complaint to the DGP in April 2017. On being asked why the complaint filed two months ago was not followed up, Nadirsha said that after that, they had been on a foreign trip.
“Noted actors and producers of the Malayalam film industry are behind the conspiracy to make Dileep accused in the case according to Vishnu. If we name them, it covers a big part of the industry. Vishnu told me that they forced him into naming Dileep as the one who had conspired to commit the crime,” Nadirsha told the media. He however added that they did not trust Vishnu or his claim that a list of top names in thr industry were involved in the conspiracy.
Dileep further claimed that the police reopened the investigation based on his complaint. On Friday, the investigation team led by South Zone Additional DGP B Sandhya took a fresh statement of the actor who had been subjected to the crime.
Meanwhile, other reports suggest that police will restart the probe into the case as they have got information regarding the possible involvement of Dileep.
One of the accused Jinson, who gave the mobile details of Sunil Kumar aka Pulsur Suni - the key accused in the case, has reportedly revealed that Suni shared some details of the crime with him.
The move to initiate the probe again is apparently based on the revelations made by Jinson.
Dileep, it has been reported by television channels, had filed a complaint two months ago when Loknath Behra was the state police chief.
“The investigation team should take my statement since I am a complainant. I am ready to turn up whenever demanded by the team. The moves against me to defame me have been there for a while. It all begins every time a week before the release of my new movie,” Dileep told Asianet News.
Meanwhile a letter believed to have been written by Suni to Dileep has also been leaked by the media. “I need to protect five persons who were with me to commit the crime. Dileep didn’t give me the promised money for abducting the actor. Dileep could have sent a lawyer for me. It was not difficult for him to send someone to help me, he did not do both. I had also asked Nadirsha to do something, but there was no response from him as well,“ the letter reportedly said.
In another development, Thrikkakara MLA PT Thomas has written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asking for a CBI probe into the case.