In 2018, Dileep had moved the high court seeking to transfer the investigation in the case to the CBI, contending that the investigation carried out by the state police was biased against him.
Published Apr 07, 2025 | 3:56 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 07, 2025 | 4:01 PM
Dileep.
Synopsis: The Kerala High Court dismissed actor Dileep’s plea for a CBI probe into the 2017 actress assault case, in which he is the eighth accused. The court upheld the 2018 decision, noting the trial’s near completion. Dileep had previously sought a CBI investigation, claiming bias in the state police’s probe.
The Kerala High Court on Monday, 7 April, dismissed actor Dileep’s plea for a CBI probe into the 2017 actress assault case, in which he is the eighth accused.
A bench comprising Justices AM Mustaque and P Krishna Kumar noted that the trial in the Ernakulam Sessions Court is nearing completion and upheld the earlier 2018 decision by a single judge rejecting the request for a CBI probe.
According to a report by the Bar and Bench, in 2018, Dileep moved the high court seeking to transfer the investigation in the case to the CBI, contending that the investigation carried out by the state police was biased against him. However, the single bench of Justice Sunil Thomas dismissed his petition prompting him to file the present appeal in 2019.
Nearly six years later, Dileep decided to press for a CBI probe once again, and the matter was listed before the Division Bench.
“We finally concur with the learned Single Judge with regard to the relief declining for further instructions to the CBI as it is now we also find that trial is heading to final conclusion,” Live Law reported.
The bench had, however, quashed certain observations of the Single Judge, saying that the matters are to be decided at the appropriate stage.
The survivor, who worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in a car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of 17 February 2017 and later escaped in a busy area.
The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress.
On the other hand, in 2022, after reports emerged that the footage of the survivor’s assault was leaked, the survivor approached the Kerala High Court seeking an investigation into this.
She also sought an inquiry into the change in the hash value of the memory card of the device where the visuals of the incident were allegedly stored.
Appearing on behalf of the survivor, Advocate Gaurav Agarwal submitted that the memory card had been accessed three times while in court custody.
On 21 February 2024, in a setback to Dileep, the Kerala High Court directed the Ernakulam District and Sessions Judge to hand over a copy of the fact-finding report to the survivor in the actor sexual assault case.
In his affidavit placed before the Kerala High Court, Dileep said the allegations made by the government in the petition to cancel his bail were baseless. He added that these claims were rejected by the court many times before.
Dileep further stated that the trial court had already examined 259 prosecution witnesses.
He asserted that there was no point in thinking that he would influence the investigating officer and the joint director of the forensic lab.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman)
