Kochi: Dileep and four others accused of attempting to harm investigating officers in the 2017 actor assault case had allegedly hidden their phones and presented new gadgets during raids conducted at their properties earlier this month.
The information has been divulged at the end of 33-hour questioning of the actor and his associates over the last three days that ended at the Crime Branch office by 8 pm on Tuesday.
The investigating officers have now claimed that original phones were moved to hide the fact. On this basis, the Crime Branch is planning to move the court requesting more time to question Dileep and the other accused.
The forensic report on some of the other digital components that were confiscated is awaited. The Crime Branch SP said a course of action can be decided only after they had all the digital evidence.
The information gathered from the three days of questioning will be reported to the High Court of Kerala on Thursday.
Earlier on the day, Dileep, his brother P Sivakumar (Anoop), brother-in-law T N Suraj, friend Baiju Chengamanad and driver Krishnadas (Appu) reached the Crime Branch office for the third day of questioning as per the direction of the High Court.
The Crime Branch had also summoned Dileep's friend, Vyasan Edavanakkad based on the telephonic records of the actor. He reportedly identified Dileep's voices in the sound clips that were presented by the Crime Branch.
The High Court, while considering the anticipatory bail plea of the actor on Saturday, had granted interim protection from arrest but directed him and other accused to appear before the investigating officers on January 23, 24 and 25 for interrogation.
The court had directed the public prosecutor to submit a report on the interrogation and material evidence collected in a sealed cover on January 27, when the matter would be heard again. It had also asked the police not to arrest the accused till then.
Two directors depose
On Monday, the police had also recorded the statements of Malayalam movie directors Rafi and Arun Gopi. They were summoned to seek clarifications regarding certain matters.
Crime Branch SP Mohanachandran said Rafi was summoned to identify certain voices in the sound clips handed over by director Balachandrakumar. He said the manager and two other employees of Grand Productions, owned by Dileep, were also summoned and their statements recorded.
Earlier, the agency sources said that they were close to making one accused in the case an approver.
The latest case
The Crime Branch had, on January 9, registered the case on a complaint filed by an investigating officer. The complaint was based on a purported audio clip of Dileep, which was released by Balachandrakumar through a TV channel, in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to attack the cop.
The actor and five others were booked under various provisions of the IPC, including Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (criminal act done by several people).
Dileep has claimed that this apprehension was borne out of the past conduct of the complainant officer who has been trying to falsely implicate him in the sexual assault case.
The initial case
The actress who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly assaulted in 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. The assailants 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, the police arrested seven people. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail later.
