July 5: Malayalam star Dileep's younger brother and a comedian who has collaborated with the actor recently were today questioned by police in the actress kidnapping and molestation case.

Comedian Dharmajan and Dileep's brother Anoop were called to Aluva Police Club in Ernakulam district near Kerala's Kochi, where Dileep, his actor friend Nadirshah and manager Appunni were questioned for 13 hours last week, around 2.30pm today.

Before entering the club premises, Dharmajan told reporters he had received a call from a senior police officer asking him to meet the investigators. Anoop manages Dileep's businesses, including his film company Graand Productions.

Dharmajan was summoned over a picture in which he is seen with Pulsar Suni, the prime accused in the molestation case. The two are seen with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Dharmajan was allowed to leave after 90 minutes of questioning. Anoop was being quizzed till late this evening.

"They asked me if I knew him (Suni). I told them I don't know him and a lot of people pose for photographs with me," the actor said before driving off to a studio for a dubbing session which he left midway for the questioning.

Dharmajan, who hails from Ernakulam, acted in a recent film produced by Graand and travelled with Dileep to Canada for a stage show by Malayalam actors.

Dileep is one of the wealthiest actors in Kerala with interests in film production and distribution, besides a popular restaurant in Ernakulam.

An Ernakulam district court today sent Suni to five days' police custody. The police are also probing the allegation of conspiracy levelled by the alleged victim and her friend Manju Warrier, also an actress and Dileep's estranged wife.

Accepting the application by the police, the court ordered Suni to be remanded in police custody pending investigations. Five of his accomplices continue to be in judicial custody. They were all arrested within a week of the February 17 kidnapping and molestation.

The police had sought Suni's custody for 10 days to take him to Coimbatore in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where he had hidden after the crime.

Asked by reporters about the "big sharks" he had referred to during an earlier production on Monday, Suni told reporters in the court complex today: "I am on a fish hook, they are still swimming."

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan today said "howsoever big the fish is, it will fall in the police net".

A cellphone that Suni had allegedly used to blackmail Dileep and his associates and demand Rs 1.5 crore for not implicating the actor in the case had been reported as a stolen property in Coimbatore.

Sources said Dileep and Nadirshah could be questioned again.

Veteran actor and CPM-backed Independent Lok Sabha member Innocent today spoke to the media about a phone conversation he had with Dileep. "I directly asked him if he was involved in anything, but he said he had nothing to do with the case," said Innocent, who heads the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA).

Innocent also apologised for the behaviour of two actor-MLAs during a media conference of AMMA in Kochi last week.

Actor and CPM MLA Mukesh and Left-backed legislator K.B. Ganesh Kumar had shouted down reporters when they asked why the organisation did not discuss the alleged molestation.