Kochi: The Kerala High Court has scheduled a detailed hearing of the sub-petition filed by the prosecution in the 'conspiracy against cops' case against Malayalam film actor Dileep on Saturday.
The Kerala HC had advanced the hearing in the case registered against the actor for conspiring against the investigating officer in the 2017 actor attack case to Friday as per the prosecution's request. The special sitting on Saturday will consider further arguments by prosecution and Dileep in the case.
The hearing was advanced after the prosecution reportedly informed the court that the actor was not cooperating with the investigation.
The prosection also requested the court to lift the interim order preventing Dileep's arrest and order the actor to produce the mobile phones requested by the Crime Branch.
Seizing phones an invasion of privacy: Dileep
The actor had refused to produce his phones to the Crime Branch after the latter issued a notice to him demanding the same.
The accused has claimed that he has tasked a private forensic expert to examine these phones and that he will directly submit the report of this in court.
The court expressed dissatisfaction at the explanation and said that sending the phone to a private forensic expert was not advisable.
The lawyers of accused also argued that seizing Dileep's personal phone was an invasion of privacy and that it would set a wrong precedent to other cases.
According to the Crime Branch, Dileep and three of the co-accused had replaced the mobile phones they were using on the day a case was filed against them based on the complaint by probe officer DySP M Baiju Paulose.
The investigation revealed that Dileep, his brother P Anoop, brother-in-law T N Suraj and Appu (a relative of Anoop's wife) had changed their phones on the same day.
But Dileep's contention is that the probe team does not have the authority to issue notice to accused, seeking to produce documents or mainour, as per the code of criminal procedure.
Meanwhile, the actor also requested the court to seize and examine the phones of Balachandrakumar and Baiju Poulose to prove conspiracy hatched against him.
The HC had on Thursday adjourned till February 2 the hearing in the anticipatory bail plea moved by the actor in a case against him and five others for allegedly threatening officials probing into the sexual assault of a female actor in 2017.
Justice Gopinath P adjourned the case considering the prosecution submission seeking time for analysing the digital evidence in connection with the probe.
Counsel for Dileep had submitted that the interim order preventing his arrest may continue till the date of the next hearing. The court had extended the validity of the interim order granting protection to Dileep from arrest till February 2 after taking the views of the prosecution.
As per the court's directive, Dileep and the other accused had appeared before the investigating officers on January 23, 24 and 25 for interrogation.
The court had said director Balachandra Kumar, who had recently made some startling revelations against the actor, was an acquaintance of Dileep and has submitted some relevant material to the crime branch which led to the registering of the case.
Besides Dileep, his younger brother P Sivakumar and brother-in-law T N Suraj have also moved the court seeking the same relief.
The alleged conspiracy
On January 9, the Crime Branch registered the 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 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 officer in question was in charge of the sensational 2017 actor attack case.
The survivor, a female actor who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly molested 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 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actor.
There are 10 accused in the case and police arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.
