Thrissur: Martin Joseph, the accused in the Kochi flat assault case has reached his hometown Mundur, an examination of his cell phone location has revealed.
He has however, not reached home.
A 27-year-old woman, who was in a live-in relationship with the man, has accused him of sexually and physically assaulting her after locking her up at a flat in Kochi for nearly a month.
Though two teams of the Kochi and Thrissur police respectively are camping in the area in search of the absconding man, they were unable to locate the accused.
The 33-year-old Thrissur native is also an accused in other cases including a drug case, police sources informed.
The police are inspecting whether Martin is hiding with the help of any acquaintances.
Martin, who lived in Kochi for the past few years, was not on close terms with his family. After being caught in a drug case, he lived without the support of his family. His acquaintances in Mundur were under the impression that he was operating a business firm in Kochi. He visited Mundur occasionally in luxury cars.
He was involved in cryptocurrency trading, some of his friends from Mundur informed the police. The police are examining if he was involved in any money chains.
Martin has been on the run since the Ernakulam central police registered a case on April 8 on the basis of the woman's complaint.
The woman, hailing from Kannur, was also allegedly cheated of Rs 5 lakh by Joseph, police said.
Police said a lookout circular has been issued against the accused.
The Kochi city police said the two were in a live-in relationship since February 2020 when the woman was working as a fashion designer here.
However, their relationship became strained when the man allegedly took her money amounting to Rs 5 lakh and deposited it in the share market.
Following the alleged brutality inflicted on her, the woman left him and returned to her home in Kannur in December.
But she soon came back to Kochi and joined him after he allegedly threatened her saying that he had her nude photos in his possession, police said.
The man allegedly assaulted her sexually and physically after locking her up in their flat for around 22 days, but she managed to escape from his captivity in March.
She allegedly suffered severe injuries on her body due to the torture, police said.
The accused has applied for anticipatory bail, according to sources.