Dileep, a Kerala (Malayalam) film actor popularly known by his first name and an accused in the attack of an actress, has been allowed access to the documents and materials related to the case on Wednesday by a Kerala court.
The court while making the ruling, however, barred Dileep access to visuals of the victim being harassed in a moving car.
The case will come up for hearing on March 28.
But how and where did it all start?
On February 17, 2017, the victim was abducted while she was on her way to Kochi from her house in Thrissur.
Her driver allegedly joined hands with a group of criminals led by Pulsar Suni, who is the prime accused in the case, and drove her through the busy streets of the commercial capital of the state and reportedly abused her.
After two hours the victim was dropped off close to the home of director-actor Lal.
After she told Lal about what had happened to her, he called the police. The driver was first taken into custody and in a few days the rest of the gang, including Suni, was arrested.
The major twist came when superstar Dileep was arrested on July 10, 2017, after two rounds of questioning. After spending 85 days in jail, he was granted conditional bail.
Since then the police probe team has been busy tying the loose ends in the high-profile case.
The trial court in December accepted the charge sheet that names a total of 12 persons, including Dileep as accused, while his former wife Manju Warrier, is a key witness.
The 650-page charge sheet includes secret depositions. Among the list of witnesses, are around 50 from the film industry.
A brief history of Dileep
Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan Pillai (Dileep’s birth name) started his career as a mimicry artist and also performed in Asianet's comedy show Comicola. He then got a chance be assistant director to Kamal. This was his real big break as Kamal after seeing his performance in his Ennodu Ishtam Koodamo (1992) recommended Dileep to other mainstream directors. He adopted his screen name of ‘Dileep’ from his debut role in Manathe Kottaram (1994).
He established himself as a reliable lead actor, known for his comedic prowess and back-to-back blockbuster hits. Meesha Madhavan (2002) became one of this best known and loved films earning him a Filmfare Award for his performance as the funny moustache-sporting thief, Madhavan.
Scenes from Dileep's hit movie 'Meesa Madhavan'
He also produced movies, including C.I.D Moosa (2003), Kathavasheshan (2004) and Twenty 20 (2008), all of which were commercial successes. He has acted in over 130 films and is one of the top five most popular Malayalam actors today.
Dileep married Manju Warrier, his co-star and one of the most popular actress during the time, in 1998. Warrier took a break from acting post the marriage and the couple had a daughter in 2000. In 2014 the couple divorced and Warrier returned to the cinema industry. Dileep married leading Malayalam actress and co-star, Kavya Madhavan, in 2016.
Manju Warrier talks to Gulf News
Dampening his ever-rising popularity was the 2017 case against him. An alleged conspiracy to kidnap and attempt to rape a leading actress was charged on the actor, and he was released on bail in October 2017.
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