Kochi: Actor Dileep's friend Sarath G Nair who was arrested late on Monday evening refuted the charge that he had taken the visuals of the sexual assault of the actress to the former's house soon after the crime in February 2017. He proclaimed innocence and asserted that he never came across the crucial evidence and the charge of destroying it was baseless.
Sarath was arrested by the Crime Branch in connection with the case on Monday and later released on bail. He was summoned to the Aluva Police Club for questioning by 11am on Monday, and his arrest was recorded by 8pm.
As per the Crime Branch findings, Sarath had handed over to Dileep the assault visuals shot by gangsters who abducted the actress that fateful evening on a road towards Kochi.
After getting bail, Sarath refuted the claims made by director Balachandra Kumar over the actress assault case.
"I have informed the probe team that I am innocent in the case. It is not like I have to agree with all that Balachandrakumar has said. There is no truth in what he said. Cops were polite to me. I have clearly conveyed my position to them," Sarath responded after coming out on bail.
"I have not received those visuals... to make claims that I have destroyed the evidence. I have not seen these either. I have informed the police about it. Balachandra Kumar said that some people call me 'ikka'. But everyone knows that it is not true. Nobody calls me 'ikka'. I have nothing more to say," Sarath added.
Sarath is also the sixth accused in the case pertaining to the alleged conspiracy to endanger the officers probing the 2017 case. During the probe into this, it was found that he had allegedly destroyed the evidence in the older case. He was arrested on the basis of this.
Sarath was arrested in the presence of Superintendent of Police Mohanachandran and Deputy Superintendent of Police Baiju Paulose.
The Aluva native Sarath is a close friend of Dileep and the owner of Surya hotels. Earlier, when Dileep was arrested, he had been with the actor.
The Crime Branch team initiated a probe against Sarath after director Balachandra Kumar made claims against Dileep. The person who was referred to as 'VIP' in Balachandra Kumar's statements is also Sarath.
