The prosecution's plea seeking suspension of bail granted to actor Dileep in the sexual assault case of a female actor, was dismissed by a trial court in Kochi on Thursday. The prosecution and police had approached the court pointing out that Dileep had been trying to influence many witnesses who are from the film industry. Citing four witnesses, the prosecution had sought cancelation of Dileep's bail.
Prosecution argued that many witnesses turned hostile or changed their statements significantly in court due to this pressure and that Dileep was breaching his bail conditions. In one instance, the prosecution had said that a key witness was taken away from the court premises by a rogue advocate and once the witness came back to court, he had changed his statement significantly.
However, the court observed that there was no evidence to prove the arguments by the prosecution, following which the court rejected the petition.
Dileep, who is the 8th accused in the actor assault case was given bail in October 2017, after spending 85 days in jail. He was accused of conspiracy and masterminding the kidnap and sexual assault of the female actor in a moving car in February 2017. Dileep was arrested on July 10 the same year.
While granting bail, the Kerala High Court had asked the actor not to influence witnesses or destroy evidence. But few months ago there were allegations that some of the witnesses who are from the film industry turned hostile due to pressure.