KOCHI: The Crime Branch has served a notice to actor Dileep's lawyer Raman Pillai for recording his statement in connection with a complaint that an attempt was made to influence a witness in the actress assault case. However, Pillai did not appear before the Crime Branch. It was Kottayam Crime Branch Unit SP who issued the notice. Raman Pillai told the probe team that he could not appear as he had legal protection as a lawyer.

The notice issued on February 14 directed Pillai to appear on the 16th. Crime branch sources said that no further action has been decided.

Raman Pillai told Kerala Kaumudi that he would not respond to the crime branch notice. The action was taken on the basis of an audio recording which stated that the lawyer tried to influence Pulsar Suni's co - prisoner Jinson through another fellow prisoner, Nasser. The audio clip contained a conversation between Jinson and Nasser.

Jinson is the crucial witness in the case. In the audio clip, Jinson can be heard expressing hope that he will get at least Rs 25 lakh if ​​he defects. Nasser's response was that it was a way to get five cents in return. Nasser also said that Pulsar Suni can be released later. Although Nasser was questioned, he said he did not know anything about it. The case is being investigated by the Kottayam unit.

Suraj questioned
The Crime Branch team on Monday questioned Dileep's brother in law Suraj, the third accused in the conspiracy case. The crime branch team released Suraj after questioning him for about 3 hours. The interrogation was led by investigating officer Mohanachandran Nair. The second accused and Dileep's brother Anoop will be questioned today. It is learned that Dileep will also be questioned this week.

Challenging rule of law
Meanwhile, Dileep's lawyer B Raman Pillai has replied to the crime branch notice. The lawyer replied to Kottayam Crime Branch SP that Dileep had not contacted anyone to influence the witness and that the allegation of witness Jinson was false. He also stated that the crime branch was challenging the rule of law by serving notice to him. The crime branch had stated in the notice that it would collect Raman Pillai's statements on February 16 morning from either his house or his office.