Actor Dileep moves Kerala HC demanding to quash murder conspiracy FIR or transfer probe to CBI

Kochi: Malayalam Actor Dileep on Monday moved the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the FIR, which accuses him and others of conspiring to kill and threaten officials probing the 2017 actress assault, or in the alternative transfer the probe in the matter to the CBI.

The latest plea comes a week after Dileep and four others were granted anticipatory bail by the High Court, in the latest case, which said there was no material to suggest that offences of criminal conspiracy or intimidation were committed by the accused.

In his plea, filed through advocate Philip T Varghese, the actor alleges that the registration of the latest case was "vindictive, ill motivated, pre-determined and malafide".

He also alleges that the investigation carried out so far in the case by officers of the Crime Branch was "highly tainted, biased, partisan, meaningless and dishonest".

"In such circumstances, the petitioner (Dileep) seeks to quash the above FIR and proceedings pursuant to the same inter-alia on the ground that FIR was registered in violation of the law," the petition claims.

It also claims that the case was "instituted with the ulterior motive of wreaking vengeance" on the actor.

It also urged the court to transfer the probe of the case to CBI, if the FIR cannot be quashed as the aggrieved parties in the case were all senior Kerala Police officers.

On January 9, the Crime Branch registered the latest case on a complaint filed by an investigating officer based on a purported audio clip of Dileep, which was telecast by a TV channel, in which the actor was allegedly heard conspiring to attack the official.

The actor and five others were 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-victim, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested 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 actress.

There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.