Actor accused of destroying evidence in assault case: Court

Kochi: A Kerala court on Friday said the charge of destruction of evidence was made out against actor Dileep in connection with the 2017 actress assault case in which he is one of the accused.

The court said the charges under section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 204 (destruction of electronic record or document to prevent its production as evidence) under the IPC were made out against the actor and his businessman-friend Sarath.

The court dismissed their pleas seeking discharge from these additional charges, the actor's lawyer said.

It listed the matter on October 31 for reading out the charges to the two accused, the lawyer said.

These charges were invoked against them by the police in an additional charge sheet filed by it in July this year after carrying out a further probe into the 2017 case based on certain revelations made by director Balachandra Kumar.

The sexual assault survivor, an actress who has worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was allegedly abducted and molested in her car for two hours by the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area.

The entire act was filmed by the accused to blackmail the actress, according to the prosecution. There are 10 accused in the case.