Alleged threat: High Court seeks view of Centre, State on actor Dileep's plea to quash FIR

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Central and the State governments to inform their stand on actor Dileep's plea to quash an FIR accusing him and others of conspiring to kill and threaten officials probing into the 2017 case of assault on actress or in the alternative transfer the probe into the matter to the CBI.

The directive was issued by Justice K Haripal while considering the plea of Dileep.

In his plea filed on February 14, the actor alleged the registration of the latest case was vindictive, ill-motivated, pre-determined and malafide.

Also, he alleged the investigation 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 claimed.

It further claimed the case was instituted with the ulterior motive of wreaking vengeance on the actor.

It urged the court to transfer the probe to the CBI if the FIR cannot be quashed as the aggrieved parties in the case were all senior police officers.

A week ago, 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.

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.