A court in Angamaly near Kochi on Tuesday extended the remand period of Malayalam superstar Dileep, arrested on July 10 for the alleged conspiracy behind the abduction and assault of a leading actress in February. The remand was extended as his 14-day judicial custody had come to an end on Tuesday and as he was denied bail by the High Court on Monday.
The police did not take Dileep, lodged in the Sub-Jail in Aluva, his hometown near Kochi, to the court in Angamaly for the legal process due to security reasons. Dileep, eleventh accused in the actress attack case, was ‘produced’ before the Magistrate through video-conferencing from the Aluva prison for which the court had granted permission to the police the other day.
The police decided not to take the superstar to the court also because of apprehensions about the possibility of protests from pro-Dileep crowds along the way from Aluva to Angamaly and near the court. Sources said there were Intelligence reports about the possibility of protests by Dileep’s fans if he was taken to the court.
Dileep is accused of plotting the abduction, sexual assault and video-graphing of the young actress and giving a Rs 1.5-crore ‘quotation’ to Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Suni, first accused, to execute the plot. Apart from criminal conspiracy, Dileep has been slapped with several other serious charges including gang-rape and abduction.
The High Court had on Monday rejected the bail plea of the superstar by pointing out that prima facie there was material to establish his role in the conspiracy behind the attack against the actress. Dileep approached the High Court for bail after the court in Angamaly had refused to grant him bail on July 15.
The actress was abducted and assaulted by Suni and his gang on the night of February 17 inside a car in which she was travelling to Kochi from Thrissur in connection with the work on a film. Suni had allegedly attacked and abused the actress inside the car and recorded her visuals in the awkward situation.