KOCHI: In a major jolt to the prosecution side in the sensational actor abduction case, the Additional Special Sessions Court observed the allegation against actor Dileep over influencing witnesses was mere guesswork. TNIE accessed the court order dismissing the petition of the prosecution to cancel the bail granted to Dileep.
“Applying the legal principle, the court holds the prosecution miserably failed to convince the court that Dileep directly or indirectly influenced the witness or tampered with evidence. The petition being based on mere surmises, any further discussion is quite unwarranted and unnecessary to conclude that the same is devoid of merits,” the court said.
The prosecution alleged that four witnesses — actors Bindu Panicker, Rimi Tomy and Bhama, and a person named Vasudevan — changed their statements in the court after being influenced by Dileep. The prosecution also said the witnesses turned up with their lawyers who prevented them from meeting the Special Public Prosecutor.
“Even if the contention is accepted, the cardinal point to be decided is whether this contention is sufficient enough to hold that Dileep influenced witnesses. The definite answer is no as prosecution miserably failed to produce any evidence showing that at the instance of Dileep they deviated from their earlier statement,” the court observed.
The prosecution also contended that Bindu Panicker was reluctant to meet the Special Public Prosecutor as she was given a role, after a long gap, in a movie in which Dileep was the hero. However, the court said she had refuted the allegation when she was asked that question during the examination as a witness.
Another major allegation was that two important witnesses received threat calls and that cases in that regard were registered at Bekal and Peechi police stations last year. But the court maintained that the said incidents happened in January 2020. The FIRs show that complaints were given after nine and eleven months of the alleged incidents. The court claimed that these FIRs were registered only after the prosecution moved the petition to cancel Dileep’s bail.“This fact throws serious doubts on the prosecution allegation,” the court observed.