Kerala HC grants anticipatory bail to Dileep in conspiracy case

The Kerala High Court on Monday allowed actor Dileep's anticipatory bail plea in connection with the case accusing him and members of his family of threatening officials probing the sexual assault of an actress in 2017.

The actor's lawyers argued before Justice Gopinath P. that there was no conspiracy and the allegations were "concocted" by the police to get him in their custody. Senior advocate B. Raman Pillai and advocates Philip T. Varghese and Thomas T. Varghese, who represented the actor, contended that the police would go to any extent to trap him.

The Crime Branch had, on January 9, registered the case on a complaint filed by an investigating officer based on a purported audio-clip of Dileep, which was released by a TV channel recently in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to attack the official.

The actor and five others were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (criminal act done by several people).

The high court had allowed the police to question Dileep and other co-accused for three days, while granting them interim protection from arrest.