2017 Actress Assault Case: Offence of destroying evidence against actor Dileep will exist, petition dismisses by Court

Kochi (Kerala) [India], October 28 (ANI): Principal Sessions Court in Ernakulam has rejected the discharge petitions of accused Malayalam actor Dileep and his friend Sarath from the offence of destroying the evidence in the further investigation report of the 2017 Actress Assault Case.
The court made it clear that the new charge of destroying evidence against Dileep and Sarath will remain and directed both to appear in court on the 31st of this month. The further trial of the case will resume on November 10.
The crime branch has imposed the offence of destroying the evidence against Dileep and Sarath earlier. The court rejected the argument of both of them that there were no new findings in the investigation conducted on the basis of witness Balachandra Kumar's revelations.
The investigation team has included more than 300 related documents in the further investigation report, which included 112 witnesses.
But the court also rejected the prosecution's contention that Dileep had sent his phones to forensic experts in Mumbai and tried to erase the data using hackers, without complying with the High Court's order to produce the phones for examination.
The investigating team informed the court that film director and the witness in the case, Balachandra Kumar was present at the scene when Sarath brought the footage of the actress being attacked on an iPad and brought it to Dileep's house.
Dileep is the eighth accused in this case.
The case pertains that an actress, who worked in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films, was allegedly abducted and molested inside her car by a group of men who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017. (ANI)