A special court in Kochi, considering the trial of the Kerala actor assault case, has summoned an approver in the case following a plea filed by accused actor Dileep. Vipin Lal, a Kasaragod native, who was the tenth accused in the case, has been asked to depose in court on Thursday. Vipin Lal had turned approver and had given a confidential statement to the magistrate against actor Dileep, who is accused to have masterminded the abduction and sexual assault on the survivor actor.
Dileep, in his plea, had pointed out that Vipin Lal was released from prison without securing bail in the case after he turned approver. Dileep asked the court not to examine Vipin Lal without sending him back to prison as his release was against norms, ANI reported. According to reports, Vipin was released from Viyyur central prison in 2018 on securing bail in another case but allegedly had not secured court directions to be released in the actor assault case though he had turned approver. The court has also summoned the superintendent of Viyyur central prison on Thursday.
Notably, there had been allegations that the accused in the case were trying to threaten and influence Vipin Lal after he turned approver in the case. In November, aide and office secretary of Kerala MLA Ganesh Kumar, M Pradeep Kottathala was arrested by police who allegedly threatened Vipin Lal and his relatives asking him to back off from his statement.
A Congress leader in Kerala had released visuals of CCTV footage that showed Pradeep Kottathala visiting a showroom of Vipin Lal’s relatives in Kasaragod. Following his arrest, Vipin had come out to the media stating that Pradeep Kottathala had approached him faking his identity and stating that he was the clerk of Dileep’s counsel.
Actor and MLA Ganesh Kumar had previously visited Dileep when he was jailed in the case. Pradeep Kottathala had also accompanied Ganesh Kumar in one of the visits.
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