Kochi, April 8 -- The Kerala high court on Monday refused to allow actor Dileep's petition for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the 2017 kidnapping and sexual assault case of a prominent female actor.

The bench of justices A Muhamed Mustaque and P Krishna Kumar found no merit in the plea filed by the actor as the trial in the case was already headed towards a conclusion in the Ernakulam principal and sessions court.

The plea by Dileep, the eighth accused in the case who faces charges of criminal conspiracy, among others, for a central agency probe was earlier dismissed by a single judge of the high court in 2018.

"We finally concur with the learned single judge in regard to the relief declining for further inst...