The Kerala Police on Friday told the High Court that accusations against actor Dileep and the others make them ineligible for anticipatory bail, PTI reported.

The court has been hearing the actor’s bail plea in a case where he allegedly conspired to kill some officers investigating a sexual assault case against him.

Director-General of Prosecution TA Shaji concluded his arguments on Friday. The court will pronounce its verdict in the matter on February 7.

He said that the investigation was “virtually paralysed” as the accused persons did not cooperate. He added that there was “overwhelming” material that could prove the offence of the actor.

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.

The case took another turn in January after filmmaker Balachandrakumar released a purported audio clip in which Dileep could be heard asking some persons to “wait to see how the five investigating officers are going to suffer”.

Shaji on Friday also said that “several aspects” indicated that Balchandrakumar was a credible witness in the case, Live Law reported.

He added that there was already some proof of the witnesses being influenced in the sexual assault case. He pressed for the judicial or police custody of the accused to protect the witnesses.

“They have money and muscle power and they used it to try and sabotage the other case [actress assault case],” he said. “They have the capability to sabotage the trial and the investigation.”

On Thursday, the actor had challenged investigation by the Crime Branch in the sexual assault case.

He contended that further investigation was not permissible as a final report had been filed in the matter in November 2017 and charges were framed in January 2020. The actor claimed that the police were carrying out “a series of vindictive acts” in the garb of inquiry.

According to Dileep’s petition, one such act was the filing of a purportedly false case against him and his male family members for allegedly conspiring to murder an investigating officer in the sexual assault case.