Was Dileep married to another woman before Manju Warrier?

New Delhi, Aug 3: Investigation into the Malayalam actress abduction and assault case has brought to the fore murky details about popular actor Dileep.

His involvement in the case has shocked all. Now, the latest bit of news to emerge is that his former wife Manju Warrier, to whom he was married for 17 years, was not his first wife.

Before his marriage to Manju in 1998, Dileep was married to a distant relative, the investigation has revealed. According to a report in Malayalam Manorama, a distant relative of the actor was his first wife and the wedding was official recorded at the registrar office in Desam, Aluva, Dileep’s hometown.

Dileep, aka Gopalakrishnan, married this woman, much before he made his film debut in the 1990s, say reports. He later got close to Manju and as soon as relatives of the actor got to know of his affair, they sounded the first wife. The couple then parted ways. However, the police suspect Dileep didn’t officially separate from this woman. She moved to the Gulf later.

The police is trying to contact her and other people who signed as witnesses when the two got married.

Dileep divorced Manju, with whom he has a daughter in 2015, and married another popular actor Kavya Madhavan in 2016.

Meanwhile, Kerala Police on Wednesday called Madhu Warrier, the brother of Manju Warrier, to the Aluva Police club as part of its probe.

According to those in the know of things, the police team questioned Madhu as part of their efforts to find out from those who were once close to Dileep through his marriage to Warrier about the actor’s character.

Dileep’s brother-in-law (sister’s husband) was also called by the police on Wednesday, as he used to manage all the business interests of the actor.

In the past one week, among those in the film industry who the police took statements from included Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) general secretary Edavela Babu, actor Siddique, singer Rimy Tomy and actress Shritha.

Earlier, the police took statements from actor-turned-CPI-M backed legislator Mukesh and also actor-turned-director and close aide of Dileep, Nadir Shah.

The police also took statements from his wife Kavya Madhavan and her mother.

Dileep’s manager Appunni, whose anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the high court, appeared before the probe team on Monday. He was let off after five hours of questioning.

Dileep’s bail plea was rejected by the Kerala high court on July 24. Ever since his arrest, he has been cooling his heels at a jail in Kerala.

According to speculation, there could be more arrests in the coming days. The popular young actress was abducted and molested while travelling from Thrissur to Kochi on February 17 this year.

The police arrested her abductors in a week’s time. In June, the police cracked the conspiracy angle in the abduction and arrested Dileep on July 10.