Refusing to give a clean chit to Malayalam film superstar Dileep even after questioning him for 13 long hours in connection with the alleged conspiracy behind the attack on a young frontline actress in February, the Kerala Police on Thursday indicated that he could be questioned again even as the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) vehemently defended the popular actor.

The police team probing the alleged conspiracy behind the abduction of and assault on the actress had questioned Dileep, his manager Appunni and friend and actor-director Nadir Shah for 13 hours starting 12.30 pm Wednesday. Dileep had claimed that what the police did was to record his statement on a complaint he had filed about a suspected bid to blackmail him in connection with the attack against the actress.

However, Superintendent of Police (rural-Ernakulam) AV George, a lead member of the investigation team, effectively contradicted the superstar’s claim. “The police’s probe is into the (alleged) conspiracy connected to the attack on the actress. Dileep had indeed been questioned. We have to verify many things (he has told us),” George said.

“The police recorded my statement over the complaint I had lodged. I have told them about everything in detail. I will cooperate with the investigation fully. I am confident about proving my innocence,” Dileep said in Kochi upon his arrival there for participating in the general body meeting of the AAMA.

Dileep and Nadir Shah had lodged complaints with the DGP in April after the latter and Appunni received telephone calls from a co-prisoner of Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Suni, prime accused in the actress attack case, demanding Rs1.5 crore not to disclose Dileep’s alleged role in a conspiracy. But it was later reported that the phone calls were made by Suni himself.

Apart from this, Suni had written a letter to Dileep from the prison requesting his help. However, Dileep told the police during questioning that he did not know Suni. He also told the investigators that he had some differences of opinion with the actress but he had never tried to deprive her of opportunities in cinema.

The young and popular actress was abducted by a gang headed by Suni on the night of February 17 as she was travelling in a car to Kochi from Thrissur in connection with the dubbing for a movie under production. The abductors had allegedly assaulted and terrorized her and had even taken her images before they let her go at a place off Kochi before dawn.

Meanwhile, the police have reportedly learned that Dileep and Suni were in the same mobile tower location a month before the actress was attacked. But the superstar denied any knowledge of such occurrence. Apart from such minor factors, the police have received little information that could connect Dileep to the accused or to the assault on the actress, say sources.

At the same time, the issue has become a huge headache for AMMA, as both Dileep and the actress are its prominent members. After its general body meeting on Thursday, leading actors Mukesh and KB Ganeshkumar, both members of the State Assembly, vent their anger on the newsmen for allegedly haunting Dileep over the actress attack case.

“Both Dileep and the actress are AMMA’s children. There is no rift in the association and nobody can create a rift. There has been no fault on the part of AMMA in dealing with the matter. We won’t allow anyone to hunt down Dileep,” Ganeshkumar said while Mukesh warned newsmen not to pose “indecent questions”.

AMMA president Innocent, a lok Sabha member, said no member had raised the issue at the general body meeting but young actress Rima Kallingal, a leader of Women in Cinema Collective, a newly floated outfit of woman film workers, contradicted him saying the issue had indeed been raised and the women in the cinema field had been promised full support.