Popular Malayalam actor Dileep was on Monday arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the conspiracy behind the abduction and sexual harassment of a female actor on February 17 in Kochi.
Though his arrest was recorded around 4 p.m., the actor was summoned by the SIT to the Aluva Police Club in the morning itself. Sources said he had been charged for his alleged involvement in the criminal conspiracy. They said the conspiracy was hatched at a city hotel almost a year back. Though the police had initially suspected an alleged property deal involving Dileep and the victim as the trigger for the attack, the SIT had now zeroed in on personal animosity going by preliminary inferences.
Though the police arrested prime accused Sunil Kumar aka ‘Pulsar’ Suni, who attacked the actor in a moving car while she was returning from a shooting location, within six days, the conspiracy angle had eluded the police till recently.
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The police turned their attention to the conspiracy angle beginning with a fresh statement of the victim recorded by Additional Director General of Police B. Sandhya in June.
Shortly thereafter, Dileep’s close friend and filmmaker Nadirsha came on record claiming that he had received a call from an aide of ‘Pulsar’ Suni demanding ransom not to implicate Dileep. This was followed by a revelation by Dileep himself that he had lodged a petition with the police that he was being blackmailed.
On June 28, the SIT grilled both Nadirsha and Dileep, which lasted more than 13 hours . It has now emerged that the police found contradictions in their statements. This was further supplemented by the statements of 25-odd persons collected by the police in connection with the conspiracy.
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It has also emerged that ‘Pulsar’ Suni had contacted Nadirsha over the phone from the jail on at least three occasions. He had contacted the filmmaker from the cell, purportedly to settle a financial deal between them. The duo had a rather pleasant conversation between them with one of these calls lasting about eight minutes.
In the meantime, the SIT also ascertained whether ‘Pulsar’ Suni handed over the memory card that supposedly contained footage of the crime to someone at a clothing store in Kakkanad run by a prominent actor.