The anticipatory bail plea of actor Dileep, in a case of conspiracy against officials of the Kerala police, will be heard on Tuesday, February 1, at 1.45 pm. Justice Gopinath P, who heard the case on Monday on account of a new development concerning phones used by the accused, posted the plea for Tuesday after listening to the prosecution and the counsel of the accused. Six of the seven phones of the accused, asked for by the investigating team, were submitted before the court on Tuesday, after a fresh application was made for it last week.
TA Shaji, Director General of Prosecution (DGP), said that nobody else got “such a privilege” as the accused actor. The police, investigating the fresh case of conspiracy against Dileep, had collected enough materials and evidence that should prevent the accused's pre-arrest and even regular bail, said the DGP. “What is so special about this accused? If anticipatory bail is granted to him, this will set a bad precedent,” Shaji said.
He pointed out that it was unheard of, to have an accused dictating terms and not handing over phones, asked for by the investigating team. The police filed a fresh FIR against Dileep after new revelations surfaced regarding his role in a conspiracy to kill investigating officials of the 2017 actor assault case. Dileep is an accused in the assault case, the trial of which has been going on for over two years at a Sessions court.
DGP: They cannot be allowed to take the court and the prosecution for a ride. Let them surrender to the investigation- Nobody in this state gets such a privilege and he cannot also. Now let them argue. #dileep #keralahighcourt
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) January 31, 2022
Dileep's counsel, Raman Pillai, had been raising the argument that the whole conspiracy case is a "fabrication" of an investigating official to frame Dileep, get his custody and extend the trial of the assault case.
On Monday, he fell back to his former argument that it has become "a media trial". The advocate claimed that he got a call from a media channel before he received the notice to surrender the accused's phones.
The police asked for phones of the accused after they found that they had handed over new phones, bought after the FIR was filed in the conspiracy case, on January 9. When the police asked for phones used previously, Dileep refused to give it, saying that it was not used during the time of the alleged conspiracy. The police then filed a fresh application for the phones, during which Dileep's counsel said that the phones were sent to forensic experts in Mumbai, in connection with the actor assault case. The court, however, directed the accused to surrender the phones by Monday morning.
Placing only six of the seven phones demanded by the police, Raman Pillai said that the final phone could not be submitted "due to lack of specifications". The police reportedly found that Dileep had used four phones while the actor claimed there were only three.
Raman Pillai asked to let the phones remain in court till the next hearing. DGP Shaji said that this was the problem — "we are compelled to come here and beg for evidence".