Police carried out an extensive search at actor Dileeps residence

Official police officials arrived at actor Dileep's residence near here on Wednesday as the actor's anticipatory bail plea in the actress abduction case is set to be heard on Friday. Despite the house being locked, police jumped the gate to enter.

An hour later, a relative of the actor arrived on the scene and opened the house for the police to carry out the inspection and search with the court's permission.

The past week, the police registered a new case under non-bailable clauses against Dileep and his family members, including his brother Anoop, his brother-in-law Sooraj and others.

Dileep had sought anticipatory bail in the new case registered by the police investigating the actress's abduction, in which he is charged.

In an unusual turn of events, this news came when the case trial was nearing its end. Still, things went awry after a revelation made by a friend and Malayalam movie director Balachandra Kumar. He reported to Dileep to the police that he has a few clips of a female actor who was sexually assaulted, alleging that he is in possession of the footage.

Additionally, Kumar pointed out that the actor had threatened to sue the police, who were investigating the actress abduction case, on his own. Having presented himself to the police team and given his detailed statement, Kumar gave another testimony on Wednesday to a local magistrate. However, Dileep said he is innocent, and the revelations are "baseless."

Former police officer George Joseph, who as a police officer was part of several investigation teams, said there was nothing wrong with the police showing up at the actor's house. "What has now come out are fresh revelations, and the police are duty-bound to go after the new evidence to corroborate the revelation. As things stand, all these will come before the court, which will consider the anticipatory bail plea moved by the actor," he added.

In 2017, Dileep was jailed for two months in relation to a gang sexually assaulting a frontline heroine of a South Indian movie and filming the incident. He was released on bail during the ongoing trial in the case when the fresh revelations were revealed.