Dileep gets anticipatory bail: timeline of South Indian star's sexual assault case

South Indian megastar Dileep is facing fresh allegations in a five-year-old case of kidnapping and sexual assault of a fellow actress.

The Malayalam superstar, 54, is on trial for plotting the abduction and sexual attack of an actress in 2017 in retaliation to her leaking details of his secret love affair that led to his divorce.

Dileep, whose real name is Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, was briefly arrested in the case and remains on bail as the trial has continued to drag for more than three years amid allegations that he was even receiving favours from the judiciary.

He is facing new allegations that he was scheming to kill officers investigating the sexual crime after his friend and filmmaker released a mobile phone conversation in which he is allegedly heard saying the officials “are going to suffer".

In his latest petition, the actor claims it was a “wilful attempt” to protract the trial in the matter.

New revelations

His troubles increased in recent weeks after the audio recordings – in which Dileep and his brother-in-law T N Suraj are purportedly talking about eliminating police officers probing the sex crime – were released by P Balachandrakumar to a television channel.

The revelations prompted police to file a new criminal conspiracy case in January and petition the Kerala High Court to seek custody of half a dozen of his mobile phones following his refusal to give them access to the devices.

Police claimed he could destroy the crucial evidence and last week questioned the actor for more than 33 hours. Five more people, including Suraj, have been charged in the conspiracy case.

Dileep's lawyer denied the charges and claimed that the superstar was being framed.

“This feels motivated because there are many people who are not on good terms with Dileep,” Philip T Varghese told The National.

The actor has performed in more than 150 movies and is one of the biggest stars in the Kerala film industry, popularly known as “Mollywood”, and continues to command a huge fanbase despite the allegations.

Humble beginnings

Dileep has seen a meteoric rise from his humble background to become a reigning star in the regional film industry. He started his career as a mimicry artist in the 1980s.

His comic timing and dialogue delivery in light-hearted family movies won him a legion of fans not only from Kerala but across South Indian states.

He has also forayed into film production, multiplexes and restaurants business, including a restaurant chain in the UAE.

A timeline of events in the ongoing Dileep case:

• February 17, 2017: An actress alleges that she was abducted by five men and raped in a moving car for two hours in Kochi in February, 2017. She knew one of the assaulters, Puslar Suni, and filed a complaint with the police. She also claims the assaulters had filmed the crime with an intention to blackmail her.
• February 19, 2017: Police arrest three of the accused but Suni is on the run.
• February 23, 2017: Suni and another accused, Vijesh, surrender before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate.
• April 18, 2017: First chargesheet in the case is filed by police naming Suni and six others as accused.
• June 23, 2017: A prison inmate informs police that Suni had confided in him the details about the crime.
• June 24, 2017: A letter allegedly written by Suni to actor Dileep surfaces. In the letter, written in Malayalam, the writer pleads with Dileep to help him, asking him why he has "forsaken" him. The same day, Dileep and his friend, filmmaker Nadirshah, tell a news channel they received a threatening call from Suni’s acquaintance who demanded 15 million Indian rupees ($200,000) to not implicate Dileep in the crime.
• June 26, 2017: Dileep blames the survivor for the sexual assault in a TV interview and claims she was friends with Suni.
• June 28, 2017: Police interrogate Dileep and Nadirshah for nearly 13 hours.
• July 10, 2017: A special investigation team arrests Dileep and accuses him of plotting the attack for taking revenge on the victim for alerting his then wife, Manju Warrier, about his affair with his co-star Kavya Madhvan, whom he married in 2016. Dileep and Warrier, also a top Malayalam actress, ended their 16-year-long marriage in early 2015.

• October 3, 2017: Dileep is granted bail after 85 days in jail. Investigators name 12 accused in the case, Dileep being the eighth accused. His younger brother, film director P Sivakumar, and brother-in-law Suraj are also accused in the sex crime conspiracy.
• November 2019: Court proceedings begin but are soon halted after prosecutors claim that the court was favouring Dileep.
• January 6, 2020: Trial begins after three years. Court frames charges against Dileep, Suni and eight other accused.
• October 28, 2020: The survivor moves Kerala High Court, asking for the judge to be changed, alleging she is biased towards the actor.
• November 23, 2020: After the Kerala High Court rejects the survivor’s petition, Special Public Prosecutor A Suresan quits the case, criticising the judge's biased approach.
• January 4, 2021: A new Special Public Prosecutor, VN Anilkumar, is appointed in the case.
• December 25, 2021: Director P Balachandrakumar releases audio recordings to a television channel.
• January 9, 2022: Police file a fresh criminal conspiracy case and petition the Kerala High Court seeking custody of half a dozen of Dileep's mobile phones, claiming that he could destroy crucial evidence.
• January 10, 2022: Dileep seeks anticipatory bail. The survivor identifies herself in a social media statement saying, “this has not been an easy journey". More than 200 actors, directors and producers, including superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal, lend their support to the survivor.

• January 23-25, 2022: Investigators interrogate Dileep, his brothers Anoop and Suraj for 33 hours for three days.
• February 1, 2022: Dileep submits his phones to court. His bail hearing is deferred.
• February 3, 2022: Dileep moves a fresh plea at the Kerala High Court to stop further investigations alleging that it was a “wilful attempt” by police to protract the trial in the matter. A bail hearing is set for February 7.
• February 5, 2022: The survivor requests Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to order probe into media reports that visuals of the attack were leaked from a sessions court.
• February 7, 2022: Kerala High Court grants Dileep anticipatory bail. His lawyers had argued that the entire “murder conspiracy” case was fabricated.