The case of abduction and sexual assault of a female actor in Kochi took a dramatic turn on Wednesday with the police subjecting actor Dileep and his actor-filmmaker friend Nadirsha to marathon questioning to collect their statements on the purported conspiracy behind the episode.
A police team, led by Additional Director General of Police (South Zone) B. Sandhya, began questioning the duo at the Aluva Police Club in Kochi from 12.30 p.m. and continued beyond 12 midnight.
Besides the duo, Appunni, a close aide of Mr. Dileep, also gave a statement during the day.
The actors were questioned in separate rooms and so was Mr. Appuni. They will be questioned again in order to cross-check their statements.
Official sources said the interrogation pertained to both the abduction case as well as the alleged blackmailing bid on Mr. Dileep by Sunil Kumar, aka ‘Pulsar’ Suni, the key accused in the first case. “We are examining the allegations against Mr. Dileep in the abduction episode as well as those levelled by him,’’ they said.
Based on the statement of the trio, a decision on whether to register a case on the alleged blackmailing bid would be also made.
Prior to appearing for the interrogation, Mr. Dileep had claimed that the police had called him to collect his statement on a complaint over the blackmailing bid. “I am not ready for a trial by media and whatever I have to tell will be revealed to the police and the court. In the meantime, please do not misinterpret my words,’’ he told mediapersons.
It had been over two months since the actor filed a complaint with the office of the State Police Chief on the alleged attempt to extort ₹1.5 crore from him. As per the complaint, a person identified as Vishnu contacted Mr. Nadirsha and Mr. Appunni over the phone and sought the sum for not targeting Mr. Dileep.
Meanwhile, reports have now come out that Suni had promised ₹2 lakh to Vishnu for contacting Mr. Dileep over the phone and handing over a letter to him.
An examination of the jail record suggested that Vishnu, a former jailmate of 'Pulsar' Suni, visited the latter six times between March and May. Vishnu had confessed to smuggling a phone inside the prison and handing it over to Suni for contacting Mr. Dileep.
