Actress assault case: Kerala HC restrains police from arresting actor Dileep

The Kerala High Court has restrained police from arresting Malayalam Actor Dileep till January 27 after the Crime Branch of Kerala lodged a case against him for allegedly threatening the investigation officials who are probing the actress assault case filed against him in 2017.

The Kerala HC has also directed all the accused, including Dileep, to report before the investigation officer on January 23, 24, and 25. The high court also issued an interim order on anticipatory plea filed by the actor. The next hearing in the case has been scheduled for January 27.

Justice Gopinath P on Friday had said a special sitting will be held in the high court on January 22 for the detailed hearing of the anticipatory bail plea filed by the actor.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch had recently submitted a report before the Judicial First Class Magistrate court at Aluva, which is the trial court in the threatening case. The Crime Branch report said it had added Section 302 (murder) along with Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code since the accused had conspired to murder the probe officers as per the first information statement.

Besides Dileep, his younger brother — P Sivakumar — and brother-in-law — T N Suraj — have also moved the high court seeking the same relief. The Crime Branch had said that the allegations against Dileep and other petitioners are "very serious" and said custodial interrogation of the accused is required to unearth the criminal conspiracy hatched by them.

With PTI inputs