Kochi Apr 19 PTI The Kerala High Court on Tuesday extended till May 30 the time for the Crime Branch to complete its further investigation in the 2017 actress assault case The court had on March 8 given the agency time till April 15 to complete the probe in the case I am inclined to grant some time Justice Kauser Edappagath said during hearing of an application moved by the Crime Branch seeking three more months to complete its inquiry in the case While granting the time the court also noted that contents of the application moved by the agency for extension of time was published in the print media even before it was filed in the high court or even seen by it It is unfortunate that the general public came to know about the contents of the application even before the court saw it You DGP check it up Find out how that happened the judge said The court thereafter directed that contents of applications or affidavits filed in relation to the case in the high court be not divulged or disclosed to anyone including the media It further directed that all material collected by the investigating agency during the course of investigation be kept confidential and not be divulged or disclosed to anyone including the media The high court asked Director General of Prosecution DGP T A Shaji to ensure its directions were honoured in letter and spirit Actor Dileep represented by advocate Philip T Varghese had opposed the extension of time on the ground that the court had already fixed a specific time period and that the investigating agency was unnecessarily protracting the investigation to harass him Justice Edappagath however said I am of the view that some more time can be granted The time is extended till May 30th It also orally said that further time would not be granted after May 30 The high court on March 8 had dismissed Dileeps plea opposing further investigation in the 2017 actress assault case and given the agency time till April 15 to complete the probe The actress-victim who has worked in Tamil Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17 2017 and later escaped in a busy area The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail PTI HMP ROH ROH

Kochi Feb 24 PTI The Kerala High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on actor Dileeps plea opposing further probe in the 2017 actress assault case The high court reserved its judgement after hearing arguments on behalf of the actor the victim and the prosecution during this week except on Wednesday The actor represented by senior advocate B Raman Pillai and advocates Philip T Varghese and Thomas T Varghese has contended that the further investigation was a sham and an attempt to further delay the trial of the case Dileep has also contended that further investigation in that case was not permissible as a final report had been filed in November 2017 charges were framed in January 2020 and only one prosecution witness -- one of the investigating officers -- remained to be examined He has further said in his plea that the entire thing was pre-planned between the investigating officer and director Balachandra Kumar who recently made some startling revelations against Dileep in the actress assault case through the media Kumar had also alleged that there was evidence including digital ones to prove that the actor had influenced the witnesses The actor has claimed in his plea that prior permission of the trial court was required for carrying out any further probe Opposing his plea the police -- represented by Director General of Prosecution DGP T A Shaji and Additional Public Prosecutor P Narayanan -- has told the court that there was no legal bar or impediment in carrying out further investigation in the 2017 actress assault case merely because the trial was at its fag end and added that no prior permission was required for it The prosecution said that the further probe can be carried out anytime before delivery of verdict if any fresh material or evidence comes to light The DGP also argued that there was no pre-planning between the investigating officer and Kumar and there was no connection between them till the time the latter made his revelation The victim who was allowed to be a part of the proceedings by the court also supported the prosecutions decision to carry out further probe saying she wants a fair trial and the truth behind the incident needs to be revealed The actress-victim who has worked in Tamil Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17 2017 and later escaped in a busy area The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail PTI HMP ROH ROH

Kochi Feb 22 PTI The police on Tuesday told the Kerala High Court there was no legal bar or impediment in further investigations into the 2017 actress assault case because the trial was at its fag end and that no prior permission was required for it The submissions before the court were made by the Director General of Prosecution DGP T A Shaji and Additional Public Prosecutor P Narayanan representing the police during the hearing of actor Dileeps plea opposing further probe The prosecution said further probe can be carried out anytime before verdict if any fresh material or evidence comes to light The DGP contended there was no pre-planning between the investigating officer and director Balachandra Kumar and there was no connection between them till the time the latter made his revelation Recently Kumar made some revelations through the media that there is evidence including digital ones to prove that Dileep had influenced the witnesses The prosecution commenced its arguments after submissions on behalf of the actor and the victim in the 2017 case The victim too supported the prosecutions decision to carry out further probe saying she wants a fair trial and the truth behind the incident needs to be revealed During the hearing the court asked the prosecution whether it can complete the probe by March 1 as the deadline for completion of the trial has been extended several times by the Supreme Court In response the prosecution said it needs more time as several people have been questioned and data has been recovered from the phones submitted by the actor Also the DGP claimed files had been deleted by the actor from the phones submitted in court He said he would inform the court on Thursday as to when the probe can be completed Dileeps lawyers would respond to the submissions by the prosecution on Thursday In the plea the actor contended that further investigations were not permissible as a final report was filed in November 2017 charges were framed in January 2020 and only one prosecution witness -- one of the investigating officers -- remained to be examined The actress-victim who has worked in Tamil Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some people who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17 2017 and later escaped The entire act was filmed by those people to blackmail the actress There are 10 accused in the case and seven of them were arrested Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail PTI HMP NVG NVG

Kochi Feb 18 PTI The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Central and the State governments to inform their stand on actor Dileeps plea to quash an FIR accusing him and others of conspiring to kill and threaten officials probing into the 2017 case of assault on actress or in the alternative transfer the probe into the matter to the CBI The directive was issued by Justice K Haripal while considering the plea of Dileep In his plea filed on February 14 the actor alleged the registration of the latest case was vindictive ill-motivated pre-determined and malafide Also he alleged the investigation by officers of the Crime Branch was highly tainted biased partisan meaningless and dishonest In such circumstances the petitioner Dileep seeks to quash the above FIR and proceedings pursuant to the same inter-alia on the ground that FIR was registered in violation of the law the petition claimed It further claimed the case was instituted with the ulterior motive of wreaking vengeance on the actor It urged the court to transfer the probe to the CBI if the FIR cannot be quashed as the aggrieved parties in the case were all senior police officers A week ago Dileep and four others were granted anticipatory bail by the High Court in the latest case which said there was no material to suggest that offences of criminal conspiracy or intimidation were committed by the accused On January 9 the Crime Branch registered the latest case on a complaint filed by an investigating officer based on a purported audio-clip of Dileep which was telecast by a TV channel 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 actress-victim who has worked in Tamil Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17 2017 and later escaped in a busy area The entire act was filmed by those persons to blackmail the actress There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail PTI COR TGB NVG NVG

Kochi Jan 21 PTI The Kerala High Court will hear on Saturday the anticipatory bail plea filed by actor Dileep in a case registered against him and five others for allegedly threatening investigation officers probing the sexual assault of an actress back in 2017 Justice Gopinath P on Friday said a special sitting will be held in the high court on January 22 for the detailed hearing of the anticipatory bail plea filed by the actor The Crime Branch wing of the Kerala police had on Thursday filed a statement in the high court opposing the anticipatory bail plea and said it was for the first time in the states history that a person accused of a serious offence hatched a criminal conspiracy to harm the life of investigating officers Meanwhile the Crime Branch had recently submitted a report before the Judicial First Class Magistrate court at Aluva which is the trial court in the threatening case The Crime Branch report said it had added Section 302 murder along with Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code since the accused had conspired to murder the probe officers as per the first information statement Besides Dileep his younger brother P Sivakumar and brother-in-law T N Suraj have also moved the high court seeking the same relief The Crime Branch had said that the allegations against Dileep and other petitioners are very serious and said custodial interrogation of the accused is required to unearth the criminal conspiracy hatched by them 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 in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to attack the official The actor and five others were booked under various provisions of the IPC including Sections 116 abetment 118 concealing design to commit offense 120B criminal conspiracy 506 criminal intimidation and 34 criminal act done by several people The joint plea moved by all three has claimed that the complaint lodged against them by the officer Deputy SP Crime Branch Baiju Paulose was false They have contended that the allegations in the FIR registered on the base of the complaint are wholly false and baseless The actor and his relatives have alleged in the petition filed through advocate Philip T Varghese that the intention behind registration of the case was to take them into custody and humiliate them before the public This apprehension is borne out of the past conduct of the complainant officer who right from the start has been trying to falsely implicate the actor in the sexual assault case the petition has alleged The victim an actress who has worked in Tamil Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car for two hours by some of the accused who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17 2017 and later escaped in a busy area The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actress There are 10 accused in the case and initially police arrested seven people Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail later PTI COR RRT RRT HDA HDA