Malayalam superstar Dileep arrested in actress abduction case

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Aluva: Malayalam superstar Dileep was on Monday evening arrested by a Kerala Police team probing the abduction of a popular actress in February this year.

The office of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed the news of the arrest to the media.

Dileep was questioned last month for 13 hours in the case and was let off.

On Monday, he was questioned at an undisclosed location near here, and after five hours the police probe team recorded the arrest of the actor.

Around 7.20 p.m., Dileep was brought to the Aluva Police club from the place where he was questioned.

Dileep is understood to be behind the abduction of the young actress on February 17.

On that day, the hugely popular actress was travelling from Thrissur to Kochi by road when she was abducted. After almost two hours she was dumped near the house of director-turned-actor Lal, who upon hearing her harrowing experience, informed police.

She was reported to have been molested enroute.

The police probe team arrested Pulsar Suni and his aides, who effected the kidnap, a week after the incident.

The conspiracy angle surfaced ever since Dileep and his close aide, actor-turned-director Nadir Shah, was questioned for 13 hours last month.

Trouble began for Dileep last month after his name surfaced in a jail inmate's letter who had shared the cell with Suni.

Following this, Dileep was called for questioning. During the marathon questioning, he claimed he did not know Suni. But by then the police had established the fact that Suni was at the shooting location of Dileep's film in November at Thrissur. A photo of Suni at the film locales was released by TV channels.

Pressure mounted on the police to get to the bottom of the conspiracy. The Congress party sought a CBI probe into the case, while the BJP expressed its displeasure over the police probe.

The Association of the Malayalam Movies Artistes (AMMA) came under heavy attack from several quarters over its stand on the issue.