Kochi: Sarath G Nair, a friend of actor Dileep and the sixth accused in the conspiracy to murder cops investigating the 2017 actress assault case was arrested and released on bail on Monday, Manorama News reported.

He was taken to custody for allegedly destroying evidence related to the case.

He came under the radar after director Balachandra Kumar came out against the actor with evidence.

Sarath's involvement in the case was confirmed with the help of voice samples.

Earlier this month, Cybersecurity expert Sai Sankar, the seventh accused in the conspiracy case, was made an approver in the same case.

He was arrested for helping Dileep and the other accused by erasing crucial data from their phones.

He was charged with tampering with evidence.

Dileep and five others were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (criminal act done by several people) and later section 302 was also added to it for allegedly conspiring to murder the officials probing the 2017 actress assault case

The actress-survivor, who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, was abducted and allegedly molested in her car for two hours by some persons who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017. The entire act was filmed by these persons to blackmail the actress later.

There are 10 accused in the 2017 case and police have arrested seven. Dileep was arrested subsequently and released on bail.