KOCHI: A day after top Malayalam actor Dileep's arrest on conspiracy charges in the abduction and rape of an actress in February, police sources close to the investigation revealed that he had nursed a grudge against her since 2013 for "meddling in his private affairs".
The actress had allegedly passed on incriminating information to Dileep's then wife Manju Warrier about his affair with his current wife, actress Kavya Madhavan. At the rehearsal of an award function in 2013, Dileep had an open spat with the actress and this, police believe, provoked him to plot the "revenge".
Dileep then allegedly contracted `Pulsar' Suni, a petty criminal and film world hanger-on, to sexually assault the actress and shoot explicit visuals of the act and promised him Rs 1.5 crore for the job. According to the remand report filed by police, Dileep told Suni to ensure that that the video should be shot "up and close" so that it wouldn't be dismissed as a morphed one. He also directed Suni to take close-up shots of the ring finger of the recently betrothed actress. The special investigation team (SIT) pieced together the motive and conspiracy angle following extensive interrogation of Dileep, Suni and his accomplices, and the recordings of several phone conversations between the main culprits involved in the crime.
The remand report says Suni met Dileep between March 26 and April 17, 2016, to plan the crime. Police said the actor was staying in a prominent Kochi hotel at the time of the award show and the prime accused met him there. Dileep also met Suni three times in November 2016. The actor, the remand report states, also conspired with Suni in a caravan at Thrissur tennis club on November 13, 2016. Apart from this, the two of them discussed the matter at Thoppumpady on November 13 and at Thodupuzha Shantigiri College. Police have cited eyewitness accounts and call data records as proof.
*Courtesy TOI