NEW DELHI, July 11 (Xinhua) -- A leading film actor in the southern Indian state of Kerala has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and rape of an actress, police said Tuesday.
"Dileep was arrested in Kerala's Kochi city late Monday night after he was interrogated for hours by police. He was produced in a local court Tuesday, which sent him to judicial custody for two weeks," a local senior police official said.
"The actor has been charged with criminal conspiracy, rape, kidnapping and wrongful confinement of the actress," he added.
The actress, whose name has been withheld, was taken hostage in her car on February 17 by four men who sexually assaulted her in the moving vehicle and took obscene photographs. Six people were arrested earlier this year, including Pulsar Suni, a driver she had sacked.
"Dileep was arrested only after some of the arrested in the case broke down during police interrogation and revealed that he had masterminded the crime over personal rivalry with the actress," the official said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala film actors' body, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), has expelled Dileep from their organization and also pledged support for the actress.
However, Dileep has refuted all the allegations and said he is innocent. "I am innocent and I will prove my innocence. I was trapped," the actor told the media while being taken to a jail outside the Kochi city.
