Actress kidnapping case: Kerala actor Dileep sent to 14-day judicial custody

Malayalam film actor Dileep was sent to a judicial custody of 14 days by a local court in Kerala’s Kochi on Tuesday, a day after he was arrested in connection with the abduction and sexual assault on a woman actor in February.

The court charged Dileep, who was booed and heckled by a large crowd assembled outside the courtroom, with criminal conspiracy and later him sent to Aluva sub-jail.

The special investigation team probing the case submitted 19 evidence against the actor in the court. The police will move an application for his custody in a couple of days, officials said.

State police chief Loknath Behra said on Monday they have clinching evidence to prove the involvement of the actor in the case. Two weeks ago, the SIT probing the case questioned the actor for more than 13 hours.

The woman actor, who was returning after a shooting assignment, was abducted and sexually assaulted in a moving car by a criminal gang on February 17. She was released after three hours and the men threatened to release the video of the incident if she approached the police.

The main accused, Pulsar Suni, told the woman he was given a contract to attack her and was forced to commit the crime. However, the gutsy actress complained and the police arrested all the accused directly involved in the crime.

But, there were strong speculations that they carried out the ‘dirty job’ at the behest of someone. Police sources said Suni was given Rs 1.50 crore to attack the actor.

Last month, Dileep’s name surfaced in a jail inmate’s letter who shared the cell with Suni. Since then, Dileep has been facing a lot of heat. While Suni and his accomplices were arrested within a week of the kidnapping, police stumbled upon the conspiracy angle last week.

“The entire conspiracy was hatched almost a year back. The actor’s phone calls with some of the accused really nailed him. Preliminary investigation shows personal enmity behind the entire incident,” said a senior police officer.