Kochi, Dec. 9 -- A Kerala court on Monday acquitted Malayalam actor Dileep in a case relating to the kidnapping and sexual assault of an actress in Kochi in 2017. The Ernakulam Principal District and Sessions Court, however, found six others, including prime accused Sunil N S alias Pulsar Suni, who directly committed the crime, guilty. The prosecution could not prove the charge of conspiracy against actor Dileep, it said. A detailed order is awaited. The verdict was pronounced by Ernakulam principal sessions judge Honey M Varghese, who had concluded the hearing in the trial on November 25. The actress, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours on the night of February 17, 2017, by some persons who forced their way into the vehicle and later escaped in a busy area of Kochi. The trial proceedings in the case began in January 2020. The prosecution claimed that the complainant informed Dileep's first wife, Manju Warrier, of his affairs with another actress. There was an altercation between the complainant and Dileep over this issue during the rehearsal of an event in 2016. The conspiracy was hatched in the aftermath of the fight at a hotel in Kochi later. Like the case itself, the trial also witnessed several twists and turns. Dileep was arrested in July 2017 by the Kerala police and spent 88 days in prison before securing bail in the case. In 2019, Dileep approached the Kerala High Court seeking a CBI probe, but the plea was dismissed. In 2019, the Supreme Court directed that the trial be completed in a six-month period. Just when the trial in the case was about to end, a fresh case surfaced following the disclosure of Malayalam director Balachandra Kumar last December, who told the police that he met prime accused Pular Suni, a history sheeter, at Dileep's residence in 2016 when he went there to discuss a project. He also alleged that he was privy to a conversation at Dileep's house, where he heard about a conspiracy to eliminate officials who investigated the case. His disclosure led to a fresh case being filed against Dileep and four others....