Malayalam actress abduction: Kerala police get 2-day custody of actor Dileep

KOCHI: Actor Dileep, who was arrested on charges of conspiracy behind sexually assaulting a Malayalam actress, was remanded for two days in police custody by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Angamali on Wednesday.

Despite the police's request for three days of custody for collecting evidence from the accused, the court granted only two days. 

The prosecution submitted that a detailed interrogation was required and the accused, as part of evidence collection, has to be taken to Hotel Abad Plaza, Thrissur Tennis Club and Thodupuzha, where the actor allegedly conspired with prime accused Pulsar Suni aka Sunil Kumar.

Senior lawyer Ramkumar, who appeared for Dileep, submitted that the actor was implicated solely on the uncorroborated statement of the accused Pulsar Suni who did not even indicate any involvement of the Dileep despite being questioned for several days. 

The police suspected the conspiracy was hatched at different locations in Thrissur and Kochi. They also want to ascertain if more people were involved in the February 17 incident, that shocked the  Malayalam film industry as well as the entire state. 

There are reports that the police will also look into the financial dealings of the actor. Involvement of his family members will also be looked into. 

Though Dileep deposed that personal grudge prompted him to engage Pulsar Suni to attack the actress, police think that there is more to the case. Reportedly, a dispute between Dileep and the actress over real estate deals led to the crime. That was one of the reasons that prompted investigating officers to look into the actor's financial deals.

Dileep was produced at Magistrate's chamber by 10.30 am amid tight police security. As the actor was brought to the court from Aluva Sub jail the crowd that had gathered in the court premises booed and made catcalls.

The court first considered the plea submitted by the police seeking custody. It would consider the actor's bail plea once the police custody was over. He has been taken to Police Club Aluva, reportedly for further interrogation.