KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday granted permission to actor Dileep, the accused in the abduction and sexual assault case of a Malayalam actress, to visit Dubai for four days for opening a branch of his restaurant chain 'De Puttu.'
The court also directed the Angamaly Judicial First Class Magistrate to release his passport for six days.
While granting bail to Dileep, the Kerala High Court had directed the actor to surrender his passport before the Magistrate court. In his plea, Dileep said he has been strictly complying with all the conditions imposed by the High Court. He is one of the partners of the restaurant 'De Puttu' which has outlets at Ernakulam and Kozhikode.
Dileep and his partners had decided to open the restaurant in Al Karama, a residential district in Dubai. All the arrangements to establish and open the restaurant had been going on at the time when he was arrested.
The opening of the restaurant in Dubai is tentatively scheduled to be held on November 29. "It is essential to be present at the time of inauguration, especially for the business promotion of the hotel," he said and added that he wished to be in Dubai for a period of four days to one week.
When the petition came up for hearing, prosecution strongly opposed the plea and submitted that Dileep directly or indirectly tried to influence the witnesses in the case after released on bail. The preparation of the final report is in the last stages, senior public prosecutor Suman Chakravarthy submitted.
The court asked if the prosecution felt that Dileep had influenced the witnesses they should have filed petition seeking to cancel his bail before the Magistrate. The allegations were serious in nature. But the prosecution has no case that the plea seeking permission to visit Dubai is not genuine. Considering all the aspect the court allowed the plea of Dileep.
Meanwhile, the prosecution submitted that they are seriously thinking of approaching the Magistrate to cancel the bail.