The Kerala High Court on Thursday extended till February 2, the protection from arrest granted to Malayalam actor Dileep, in a case related to alleged conspiracy to kill an investigating officer of a 2017 sexual assault case, reported Live Law.

On February 17, 2017, an actor was allegedly kidnapped and sexually abused inside her car for two hours. Dileep is among the 10 accused persons in the case and is the alleged mastermind of the assault. The accused persons had reportedly filmed the assault to blackmail the woman.

On January 9, Kerala Police’s Crime Branch had registered an FIR against Dileep based on a purported audio clip in which he is heard asking some persons to “wait to see how the five investigating officers are going to suffer”.

The prosecution had told the High Court on January 14 that the police will not arrest the actor till January 21. At a later hearing, the High Court granted him protection from arrest till January 27.

At Thursday’s hearing, the prosecution sought more time to analyse digital evidence which the police have gathered in the case, reported The Indian Express. Director General of Prosecution TA Shaji said that he will submit a report on the investigation by the end of the day.

The High Court then adjourned the hearing till February 2. The court will hear Dileep’s anticipatory bail on that day.

The purported audio clip was released by filmmaker Balachandrakumar, who had claimed to be a friend of Dileep. The clip was subsequently aired by Malayalam news channel Reporter TV, which led to the first information report.

In the clip, another person is also reportedly heard saying that if a “truck is hitting Baiju Poulose [the deputy superintendent of police who investigated the sexual assault case], we would have to see another Rs 1.50 crore”.

Earlier this month, the woman who was allegedly sexually abused in 2017 had written to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan about the tardy pace of the trial and the latest developments in the case.

The Kerala government had then constituted a new team to investigate the recent developments. The team is headed by Additional Director General of Police Sreejith.

Meanwhile, Dileep has urged the Supreme Court not to extend the February 16 deadline to finish trial in the 2017 sexual assault case against him.