Today, a Kerala court in Ernakulam acquitted prominent Malayalam actor Dileep and three others in the 2017 actor assault case. As per national media reports, the prosecution failed to establish Dileep's involvement in the alleged criminal conspiracy or evidence tampering. Dileep, accused number 8, faced charges under multiple sections of the IPC, including kidnapping, sexual assault, gang rape, and provisions of the Information Technology Act.
The case originated on February 17, 2017, when a leading female Malayalam actor was alleged to have been abducted in her car in Kochi and subjected to a nearly two-hour sexual assault.
On his part, Dileep has alleged that the whole complaint was fabricated.
Soon after the verdict came, retired IPS officer B Sandhya stated that it was not an easy case to get a conviction in. "The clean-up of the Malayalam film industry has resulted from this case. The trial was a great challenge at the sanctity of in-camera proceedings," she told ANI.
The News Minute has reported that, according to investigators, Dileep believed that in 2012 it was the survivor who revealed his affair with actor Kavya Madhavan to his then-wife, Manju Warrier. "That belief, the prosecution says, became the source of his anger towards the survivor and set off a chain of retaliatory actions, including professional isolation and public humiliation of the survivor, and finally, the alleged conspiracy to abduct and assault her," the report says.