The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of actor Dileep for the second time in the case relating to the sexual assault on a woman actor.
Dismissing the petition, the court observed that the investigation was still progressing. There did not appear to be any substantial change of circumstances, the court added..
The counsel for Dileep argued that one of the grounds for rejecting his bail petition earlier was that his manger Appuni was in the hiding. However, Appuni had appeared before the Special Investigation Team following the dismissal of his earlier bail petition. It was now revealed that the main objects, mobile phone and its memory card, were irretrievably lost and no purpose would be served by further investigation on this aspect.
Therefore, there was a substantial change of circumstances and consequently further custody of the accused was not warranted. The counsel further contended that there was absolutely no material to connect the petitioner with Sunil aka ‘Pulsar’ Suni, the first accused, or his involvement in any conspiracy. In fact, Dileep was a prey to a conspiracy hatched by a few persons inimical to him to destroy his film career.
Prosecution charge
Opposing the bail plea, the Director General of Prosecution submitted that the prosecution was not relying on the confession of the first accused alone. There was prima facie material to connect the petitioner with the conspiracy. There were oral and documentary evidence to support the presence of both the accused — the first accused and Dileep — at various locations.
The prosecution also claimed that immediately after the incident, attempts were made by the first accused to contact the petitioner through others. The DGP submitted that though Appunni was interrogated, he did not cooperate with the investigation team. Though the lawyer to whom the mobile phone and the memory card were entrusted took the stand that they were destroyed, the investigation team did not believe the version. The team was still trying to unearth these crucial materials.
Published - August 29, 2017 07:31 pm IST
