Honey M. Varghese, Ernakulam Principal Sessions Judge, delivered the verdict on Monday after a trial that spanned approximately eight years, News.Az reports, citing Indian media.
Dileep was the eighth accused in the case.
The court, however, found the first six accused guilty and will pronounce their sentences on December 12.
The accused in the case were the first accused, N.S. Sunil, alias ‘Pulsur Suni’, the second accused, Martin Antony, third accused B. Manikandan, fourth accused V. P. Vijeesh, fifth accused H. Salim alias Vadiwal Salim, sixth accused Pradeep, seventh accused Charlie Thomas, ninth accused Sanil Kumar, alias Mestri Sanil, and the fifteenth accused, Sarath Nair.
The charges levelled against the first six accused and Dileep included gang rape, criminal conspiracy, outraging the modesty of a woman, wrongful confinement, use of criminal force, destruction of evidence, taking and distributing obscene images.
The court premises as well as the court hall were packed with lawyers, mediapersons and friends and relatives of the accused. All the accused were asked to be present in the court hall to hear the verdict.
The case had attracted wide attention as prominent film personalities were involved in it, including the survivor and the accused, Dileep. A large number of actors were also examined as witnesses in the case.
The prosecution had termed actors Bindu Panicker, Edavela Babu and Bhama as hostile witnesses after they retracted from their earlier statements given to the police when cross-examined in the court.
The details of the verdict will be known when the court uploads the judgment in the public domain.
