June 29: Kerala police today said the conspiracy angle in the actress molestation case was still under investigation, a day after questioning leading Malayalam actor Dileep for over 13 hours.

A.V. George, the superintendent of police (Ernakulam rural), told reporters that all angles, not just the blackmail complaint filed by Dileep, were being probed.

"We are investigating Dileep's complaint and the conspiracy angle (in the molestation case)," George said.

Dileep, his friend and actor Nadirshah and manager Appunni were questioned yesterday at Aluva Police Club in Ernakulam from 12.30pm to 1.15am.

The actress had allegedly been kidnapped and molested on February 17 by a gang that included the driver of the car in which she was travelling to Kochi from Thrissur after a shoot. Six men, including alleged gang leader Pulsar Suni, were arrested within a week and have since been in jail.

The alleged victim and her actress friend Manju Warrier, the estranged wife of Dileep, had alleged conspiracy from the beginning. However, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had declared the case closed in the Assembly. The case got a new lease of life earlier this month when it emerged that Dileep had allegedly been blackmailed by prime accused Suni.

On April 20, Dileep, one of the most bankable Malayalam actors alongside Mohanlal and Mammootty, filed a complaint accusing Suni and his former cellmate Vishnu of blackmailing him by demanding Rs 1.5 crore for not implicating him in the case.

Asked if the police had finished the probe into Dileep's complaint, police chief George said: "No, it's not over. We are still investigating."

The officer said there was work left to be done before closing the case and filing the chargesheet.

"We questioned (Dileep), but there are more details to be verified," said George, who was part of the team that quizzed the trio. The police team had been led by additional director-general of police B. Sandhya.

Sources said Dileep had admitted to "personal differences" with the actress who was allegedly molested, but insisted he had no links with Suni, who had in April allegedly made a blackmail call to the actor's manager.

Suni's then cellmate Vishnu had allegedly called up Nadirshah to demand money from Dileep. Recordings of both conversations were submitted to the police by Dileep along with his complaint.

Because of the marathon questioning session, Dileep could not attend last evening's executive committee meeting of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (Amma), of which he is treasurer.

Dileep was present at the annual general meeting of Amma today and apologised once again for making some remarks about the actress.

"I had only said one should be a bit cautious with certain people. But that was twisted and misinterpreted over the past few days, causing hurt to the actress. So I had even apologised through a TV channel," Dileep said at a news conference after the meeting.

Dileep had said the actress should have been careful while choosing "friends" like "Pulsar", prompting the alleged sexual abuse victim to issue a withering statement. Without naming Dileep, the actress had said "one actor" had hurt her deeply and had threatened legal action against those making "baseless statements" against her.

Amma president Innocent said today that the case was being probed by the police and should not be discussed. "The issue was not raised at the general body meeting, but we express our solidarity with both of them (Dileep and the actress)," said Innocent, a Left-backed Independent Lok Sabha MP from Chalakudy in Kerala.

When reporters continued to ask about the organisation's stand on the latest developments in the case, actor K.B. Ganesh Kumar said Dileep and the actress were "two children of Amma (literal meaning mother)" and had the support of the entire film fraternity.

"We are united and will not isolate any of our members to be hunted down (by the media)," Kumar said.

He said the police were on the right track and none from Amma would want to interfere.