Kerala actor assault case: Actor Dileep is innocent, claims former prisons DGP

In the 75th video uploaded on the channel, she says, “How long are people being cheated when there is no evidence against Dileep, who is innocent. The police are getting the probe extended. There are attempts to fabricate evidence against Dileep. It is a pity that the police are trying to fabricate evidence by bringing new people in.”

Sreelekha, who retired in December 2020, added, “I believe Dileep has no role in this case, either directly or indirectly. If the police have committed a mistake (by arresting him), why can’t they confess it now. What is wrong if they say that they have no evidence against Dileep,” she said.

In the lengthy episode, the state’s first woman IPS officer raised doubts about the confessions of the prime accused in the case, Sunil Kumar alias Pulsar Suni, who, according to the police, abducted the woman actor and sexually assaulted her at the behest of Dileep. She also questioned the veracity of the evidence that the police had gathered against Dileep, who was earlier arrested on charges of conspiracy.

Sreelekha said that when the police forcefully nabbed Suni from a court, where he had arrived to surrender, she had hoped that they would probe the case very well. “If the crime was committed at the behest of another person, he (Suni) would have disclosed it instantly. Anyone who is arrested by force would immediately reveal to the police whether he was tasked with the crime.”

Raising doubts about the police finding that Dileep had assigned Suni to assault the woman actor and take visuals of the crime, Sreelekha said, “I doubt whether it was a supari since all their (Suni and his gang) earlier crimes were for personal benefit and making money from blackmailing. They were not used for supari in the past.”

The former IPS officer, who had served the police in Kochi for 12 years in various capacities before becoming the prisons head, said she knew of several incidents in which Suni had abducted women actors and blackmailed them for money using visuals. “During my stint in Kochi, I had a close relationship with women actors. A few of them had mentioned Suni. When they (women actors) were very active in various languages (in the film industry), he (Suni) used to develop a friendship with them as a driver and won their confidence. He abducted them, got visuals on the mobile phone and blackmailed them. But the women actors were not ready to approach the police fearing that such a step would spoil their career,” said Sreelekha.

She also questioned the prosecution’s move to get the memory card, which contained the assault videos, examined again at the forensic lab to ascertain the change in its hash value. Last week, the high court had allowed the prosecution’s demand for re-examination of the memory card.

The case is in the final stage of trial in a special court in Kochi. The high court, at the behest of the prosecution, had allowed the police to complete the probe by July 15 this year. The probe period had been extended several times by the court. The prosecution had been on a collision course with the trial court during the proceedings, which were marked by several witnesses turning hostile and two advocates quitting as government pleaders.

Responding to Sreelekha’s claims, Opposition leader V D Satheesan said the police should investigate the statements made by the former DGP. “People have a right to know why she stated so after her retirement from service. The revelations are shocking. Police should find out whether her revelations were meant to weaken the case or if what she had stated is true,” said Satheesan.