Concocted Efforts To Frame Dileep, Prosecution Not Bothered About Offence But The Offender: Arguments For Pre-Arrest Bail In Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Thursday heard the anticipatory bail plea moved by actor Dileep and other accused in the alleged criminal conspiracy to kill police officers investigating the sensational 2017 sexual assault case.Dileep is concurrently facing trial as the alleged mastermind of the abduction and the sexual assault of a female actress in a moving car in 2017 and is the 8th accused therein.After the actor's counsel concluded his arguments, Justice Gopinath P. decided to take up the matter tomorrow at 1:45 pm to hear the prosecution. Senior Advocate B. Raman Pillai appearing for Dileep in the matter elaborately argued his case before the Court today, primarily pointing out that most of the allegations put forth by the prosecution in this case were concocted efforts to frame the actor. "The conspiracy is not between the accused. The conspiracy is between the ADGP and other officers with a hidden agenda to register an FIR and throw me behind bars."To prove that the case is a vengeful move on part of the Investigating Officer and the film director Balachandran Kumar, it was pointed out that instead of being handled by the Aluva Police Station (where the alleged conspiracy is said to have been hatched), the matter is investigated by the Crime Branch. He also added that the entire agenda was to trap the actor rather than prove the offence: "The prosecution is not investigating the offence, they are dissecting the offender. They are trying to add one case after the other to get the media to turn against him (Dileep)."The senior counsel also produced a set of decisions where individuals accused of having committed grave offences were granted anticipatory bail by the Court. The counsel admitted that although it is difficult to prove a conspiracy, mere suspicion is not sufficient to find one guilty of it. To establish the same, reliance was placed on the decision in State Of Tamil Nadu v. Nalini & 25 Ors where it was observed, suspicion howsoever strong does not take the place of proof.The developments ensued in the anticipatory bail plea moved by the actor and others apprehending arrest in the said conspiracy case. The actor has also moved a separate application before the Court seeking to halt further investigation in this matter.Meanwhile, the prosecution had submitted an application last month accusing Dileep and his men of attempting to destroy critical evidence in the ongoing investigation by refusing to hand over the mobile phones they had used before January 2022. In this matter, the Court had directed the accused to hand over these phones to its Registrar General in a sealed box by Monday. Later on, these phones were ordered to be handed over to the Jurisdictional Magistrate Court (JFCM Aluva). The JFCM has decided to send the phones to a forensic lab in Thiruvanthapuram. Earlier this year, director Balachandra Kumar had released audio recordings of people including Dileep trying to sabotage the case and obstruct the trial. In his statement, he added that Dileep and his men tried to endanger the lives of the officials.Following his statements, the trial court had collected a confidential statement from the director.Consequently, Dileep and five men were booked under Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offence), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) r/w Section 34 (common intention) of IPC. The new case was filed under non-bailable sections.Apprehending arrest, Dileep, his brother P. Sivakumar and his brother-in-law T.N.Suraj approached the Court praying for anticipatory bail.Case Title: P. Gopalakrishnan alias Dileep & Ors v. State of Kerala & Anr.

Concocted Efforts To Frame Dileep, Prosecution Not Bothered About Offence But The Offender: Arguments For Pre-Arrest Bail In Kerala High Court

Hannah M Varghese

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