Kochi: The Crime Branch which is probing a conspiracy case against Malayalam film actor Dileep have now reportedly secured an incriminating deposition from his former employee.
The Crime Branch on Wednesday said that a former employee of Dileep has given a statement against the actor.
The ex-employee informed Crime Branch that he had witnessed Dileep's brother Anoop threatening to deal with Pulsar Suni once he leaves jail. He also added that Dileep's lawyer had asked him to testify that the conversation with director Balachandrakumar never happened.
Pulsar Suni is the main accused in the sensational case over the sexual assault of a young actress in early 2017. Dileep is a co-accused and is deemed to be the brain behind the crime.
On January 9, the Crime Branch had registered the latest case against Dileep based on a complaint filed by a cop who had investigated the earlier sexual assault case. The complaint was based on a purported audio clip of Dileep, which was telecast by a TV channel, in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to harm the official. Filmmaker Balachandrakumar had handed over the clip to the investigators.
Dileep, in his plea, had questioned the credibility of Balachandrakumar and has alleged that the present case was pre-planned between the director and one of the investigating officers in the 2017 case.
The Crime Branch also said that the actor and the other accused in the case were not only not cooperating with the investigation, they were also tampering with the evidence. This was evident from the forensic analysis of the mobile phones submitted before the high court, on its orders, as it revealed that they were already subjected to data extraction and deletion, the agency alleged.
The actor, his brother Anoop and four others were recently 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 who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films was abducted and allegedly raped 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 actor.
There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.
