Malayalam actress molestation: Dileep's plea for CBI inquiry rejected

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday rejected Malayalam actor Dileep's plea seeking Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the molestation of an actress in February last year.

Dileep, who is accused of allegedly conspiring the assault and abduction of the actress, had moved a lower court in Kerala and the state's High Court seeking access to the memory card containing digital evidence which was filed by the Kerala police but did not get a favourable outcome.

The courts had agreed with the police contention that evidence cannot be handed over to the accused.

Dileep later filed an appeal before the Supreme Court seeking access to the evidence.

During the Supreme Court hearing held last week, the bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar said it will first decide whether the memory card containing the clip, which is part of a police report under the Evidence Act, is a "material or document". The apex court further said that the trial court will not frame charges against the actor until it decides the issue.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on January 23.

The actress, who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was abducted and allegedly molested inside her car by a group of men, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017, and later escaped.

According to police, the conspiracy to abduct and assault the actress in a moving car was allegedly hatched by Dileep.