The Kerala High Court rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by actor Dileep's driver Appunni on Friday. Appunni has been Dileep's driver and manager for many years and had gone into hiding after the Kerala police arrested Dileep on July 10, allegedly for his involvement in the abduction and sexual assault of a prominent woman actor in February.
Rejecting the anticipatory bail plea on Friday, the HC reportedly asked Appunni to surrender before the investigating team for questioning. The prosecution had argued that it was necessary to question Appunni, to establish whether he was involved in the alleged conspiracy behind the crime.
Granting the request, local media reports suggest that the HC asked the police not to use force while questioning Appunni.
The prosecution also told the court that Appunni is currently not an accused in the case, but he has to be subjected to questioning for clarity on his involvement.
Appunni had moved the HC with an anticipatory bail plea on July 19, days after the investigation team's remand report mentioned his links with the prime accused, Pulsar Suni. In his anticipatory bail application, Appunni had claimed that he did not know Pulsar Suni and that he feared he was being implicated in the case.
The week that was
The past week has seen many crucial developments in the actor abduction case.
1) On Wednesday, it emerged that the investigating team had recorded the statement of singer and TV anchor Rimi Tomy, who is known to be close to actor Dileep. A police source had then told TNM that the police wanted to know from Rimi Tomy, how she had come to know of the abduction of the woman actor and whom she'd called after knowing the news. The police is also said to have asked Rimi about any real estate dealings she had with Dileep.
Read the story in detail here: Singer Rimi Tomy's statement recorded in Malayalam actor abduction case
2) The investigating team headed by ADGP B Sandhya had questioned actor Kavya Madhavan earlier this week. Kavya, who owns an online fashion store Laksyah, is also actor Dileep's wife. The police reportedly questioned Kavya for six hours and asked her whether she knew Pulsar Suni.
Apart from being the arrested actor's wife, the investigating team questioned Kavya also because in a letter allegedly written by Suni to Dileep from prison a few months ago, the prime accused had mentioned visiting a shop in Kakkanad twice. Suni had reportedly said in the letter that he had handed over a memory card that had visuals of the alleged assault at this store.
The office of Kavya Madhavan's online boutique Laksyah is located in Kakkanad. Although the police raided the premises, they could not recover the memory card.
Read the story in detail: Kerala police interrogate Dileep’s wife and actor Kavya Madhavan in abduction case
3) The HC denied bail to actor Dileep on Monday, agreeing with the prosecution's argument that he was capable of sabotaging the investigation by influencing the witnesses, if he was to be let out on bail. Following this, on Tuesday- the day his judicial custody came to an end- the Angamaly Magistrate Court extended his judicial custody till August 8. Dileep, however, did not chose to move the Supreme Court for bail.
4) More land encroachment allegations surfaced against actor Dileep this week. The land in Chalakkudy, in which Dileep constructed D Cinemas, had already been embroiled in allegations of encroachment. This week, however, similar allegations of land encroachment surfaced against the actor. This time, it was a piece of land he owns near the Periyar river that came under dispute, with the panchayat officials alleging that he had encroached on 20 acres of land.