Kochi: The owner of a hotel in Fort Kochi was asked to appear before the police again on Wednesday in connection with the November 1 deaths of two models and their friend in a car crash.
Meanwhile, it was reported that visuals of the DJ party attended by the models are missing from CCTV visuals submitted to police. It is suspected that the hard disk containing the visuals was destroyed.
Though the police stated that there was no mystery regarding the accident, they are trying to ascertain what exactly had taken place in the hotel where the three had attended a DJ party before embarking on the fatal trip.
The hotelier, Roy Joseph Vayalat, was quizzed for 11 hours at the Ernakulam South Police station on Tuesday. He was let off at 8.40 pm, but was asked to present himself before the Palarivattom police on Wednesday.
Roy, the promoter of 'No 18 Hotel', did not respond to reporters' questions while leaving the station. His brother and advocates waited on the station premises while he was being questioned by a team led by Assistant Commissioner (Ernakulam south) Y Nizamudeen.
He had produced a part of the digital video recorder (DVR) containing the visuals from the CCTV surveillance cameras installed at the hotel. The hotelier was let off on the promise that the remaining visuals would be submitted on Wednesday.
The visuals from the surrendered DVR did not show anything suspicious. Police sought the remaining visuals to check whether the models were under threat.
Though Assistant Commissioner of Police Nizamudeen left the station by 4 pm saying the interrogation had been completed, the team under Metro Station Circle Inspector A Ananthlal continued quizzing him.
Ananthlal later told the media that there was no mystery regarding the fatal accident, and that the police were trying to ascertain if some some untoward incidents had taken place in the hotel.
The accident and its aftermath
The models, Ansi Kabeer and Anjana Shajan were heading to Thrissur after a late night party at No 18 Hotel, when their car crashed into the median after hitting a two-wheeler at Chakkaraparambu on the Vyttila-Edappally stretch of the bypass early on November 1. While the models were killed instantly, their friend Mohammad Ashiq died a few days later.
Police had earlier questioned the driver of a car from the hotel that had followed the models' vehicles. He reportedly told the police that he followed the ill-fated car to dissuade them from travelling since they were drunk.
Meanwhile, there were rumours that the hotel employee, who had destroyed the CCTV visuals, would be arrested. The advocates reportedly camped on the police station premises to process his application if bailable charges were slapped on him.
Police had earlier retrieved Roy's WhatsApp message to the employee, asking him to destroy the visuals. The hotelier has not been arraigned as an accused in the case.
