Kerala actor abduction and assault case: Eight years of twists and turns explained

The investigations led to the arrest of actor Dileep, one of the most powerful and influential figures in the industry, for allegedly masterminding the act

Kerala's Malayalam film industry was shaken eight years ago following the abduction and sexual assault of a prominent actress in a moving car in Kochi by a group of men.

Soon, the investigations led to the arrest of Dileep, one of the most powerful and influential figures in the industry, for allegedly masterminding the act.

The sessions court in Ernakulam pronounced its verdict on Monday, December 8, 2025, in the case that has seen several twists during the trial. The court acquitted actor Dileep in the case, while found accused number one to six guilty of gang rape and conspiracy.

What exactly happened?

On February 17, 2017, an actress was kidnapped by six men while she was travelling from her home in Thrissur to Kochi. The men held the woman in her own car and drove around Kochi while Pulsar Suni, a history sheeter, allegedly assaulted her in the moving car. The accused then dropped the actress near the home of a film director, who helped her contact the police and register a case on the same day.

Martin Antony, the driver, was arrested the next day and within a week, Suni was also arrested.

Suni was named the main accused and he surrendered before the police. However, he had told the victim that he was implementing a contract, which is known as ‘quotation’ colloquially.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the sexual violence was a "conspiracy" to intimidate and humiliate the survivor. The inquiry led to the arrest of actor-producer Dileep, who had allegedly hired Suni to commit the crime.

The twists in the trial

The case took a turn when a letter written by Suni from the jail was leaked in 2017. It was the first time Dileep’s involvement in the case also came under investigation. In the letter, Suni was asking Dileep to complete the payment for committing the crime.

Dileep was added as the eighth accused and was booked for criminal conspiracy, intimidation and destruction of evidence. He was in jail nearly three months from July 10, 2017 to October 2017.

The prosecution argued that the case pointed to a grudge against the victim for making Dileep's extramarital affair with his now wife Kavya Madhavan public.

The powerful actor-producer then claimed that the investigation was biased and sought a CBI inquiry which was rejected by the High Court.

Most of the accused in the case, including Suni, were charged under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 366 (kidnapping), 376D (gang rape), and others. Further, sections of the Information Technology Act, 2008, were also invoked because the assault was filmed with an intention to distribute.

Requests to change judges

While the trial began on March 18, 2018 with nine accused in total, the survivor requested for a a woman judge in 2019. The case was reassigned to Honey M Varghese. However, the actress sought another transfer, alleging that the insensitive handling of the in-camera trial had caused her distress.

The prosecution further accused the judge of unnecessarily delaying the proceedings on flimsy grounds and objected to certain remarks. However, this time the higher courts rejected the transfer request.

During the course of the trial, two public prosecutors also resigned from the case.

Further, 261 witnesses were examined, of which many were from the film industry. As many as 28 witnesses who had initially spoken against Dileep, including actors Siddique and Bhama, and former AMMA general secretary Idavela Babu, contradicted earlier statements and turned hostile.

A massive revelation

The case took a turn yet again in 2021 when a small-time director, Balachandran, who claimed to be a close friend of Dileep, released an audio clip that purportedly linked Dileep to Suni.

He also made claims that Dileep and his associates had allegedly planned to kill the investigating officers. Fresh cases were registered against the actor after the developments.

Tampered evidence

The memory card containing the video of the assault was found tampered with while in judicial custody. This raised serious investigative concerns. Dileep had sought access to the memory card to which the Supreme Court had permitted for inspection of its contents.

The actress demanded a Special Investigation Team to probe the suspected tampering and alleged that the visuals had been leaked. A forensic report confirmed that the memory card was accessed thrice in 2018 while in court custody and once in 2021.

The change in the memory card’s hash value suggested deliberate tampering. However, no action was taken.

The final arguments in the case concluded in February 2025, after which the judge sought clarifications till November.