Will not stay probe in murder conspiracy case: Kerala High Court to Dileep

The Kerala High Court on Thursday said it will not stay the Crime Branch probe against actor Dileep and others in the case accusing them of conspiring to kill and threaten officials investigating the 2017 actress assault caseThe investigation cannot stay Justice K Haripal said after the lawyers appearing for the actor and other accused sought a stay of the probe till the court finally hears and decides Dileeps plea to quash the case or transfer the matter to CBISenior advocate B Raman Pillai and advocates Philip T Varghese and Thomas T Varghese appearing for the actor and the other accused sought a stay of the probe after the court said that the matter requires detailed hearing and therefore it can be taken up after the High Courts summer vacation from April 11 to May 17As the court declined to pass any interim order staying the probe the actors lawyers sought an earlier date of hearing saying that there was urgency in the matterThe court granted the request for an earlier date of hearing and listed the matter on March 28 for final argumentsDileep has contended in the court that the Crime Branch has levelled false and fabricated allegations of destruction of evidence against him and the other accused as well as their lawyersThe actor in his reply to a recent statement filed by the Crime Branch has claimed that the agency and its officers investigating the latest case against him were peddling lies after liesThe Crime Branch statement filed through additional public prosecutor P Narayanan had come in response to Dileeps plea to quash the murder conspiracy FIR or transfer the probe to CBIThe agency had alleged in its statement that Dileeps plea to quash the FIR was a bundle of lies and distorted factsIt had claimed that the actor and the other accused as well as their lawyers were involved in tampering or destruction of the evidence in the caseDenying the allegations the actor has contended that baseless accusations have been fabricated by the investigating agency with regard to the phones submitted by him and others including his brother and brotherinlaw for forensic analysisIn his reply the actor has said the purpose of the forensic examination of the phones presently and recently used by the accused was not to find out material regarding the 2017 case but to conduct a roving enquiry into the data contained in them for making false allegationsThe dishonest nature of the investigation which has become the trademark of the respondents 23 and 5 police officials is evident from the stories planted by them in the media about the phones of the accusedThe allegation that the petitioner Dileep and other accused removed and concealed their mobile phones within a few days of disclosure of offences by Balachandra Kumar is an incorrect and misleading statement the actor has said in his replyIt was based on certain revelations by Kumar that the police initiated further probe in the 2017 case and also lodged a fresh FIR with regard to alleged conspiracy to murder and intimidate the officials investigating the earlier matterThe actor has claimed that the mobile phones were sent to a mobile forensic expert to extract data from them regarding communications with Kumar to confront him with the same if he was made a prosecution witness and the decision to do so was taken much before the fresh case was registeredHe also claimed that extraction restoration or deletion of data from a phone by its user was neither clandestine nor illegal and regarding the clearing of 12 WhatsApp messages from his phone the actor has contended that the same is a regular process adopted by many users of the messaging platformThe actor also contended that no tampering of any of the phones or shredding of any data from the phones has been detected by the FSL contrary to the vague and false claims by the Crime BranchHe has further claimed in his reply that the allegation of Crime Branch that the actors lawyers assisted in destruction of prosecution evidence was fanciful preposterous and baselessSuch an allegation has been recklessly and irresponsibly fabricated so as to scandalize them Dileep has claimedMeanwhile the actressvictim has lodged a complaint with the Bar Council of Kerala against senior advocate B Raman Pillai and the other lawyers who represent Dileep and the other accused and has sought an enquiry into whether there was any professional misconduct by themThe complaint was returned by the lawyers body saying that it was not filed in accordance with the rules and asked her to refile itThe 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 peopleThe actressvictim 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 actressThere are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bailThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever