Kochi: Police probing the November 1 car crash that killed two models and their friend are contemplating to use sonar sensor to locate and retrieve the hard disk purportedly containing the visuals from CCTV cameras installed at the No 18 Hotel where they had partied.

A hotel employee had told investigators that the hard disk was dumped into the Vembanad Lake from Kannangattu bridge near Thevara on the instruction of hotelier Roy Joseph Vayalat.

A team of scuba divers from the Fire and Rescue Department tried to find the hard disk, but their efforts did not yield any result, prompting the police to consider using sonar sensors.

It has been suspected that the hard disk contains crucial evidence on those who had attended the October 31 party at the hotel. The hard disk may also have the visuals of Saiju Thankachen, who chased the models returning from the party, hotelier Roy, and a VIP, suspected to have stayed overnight in the hotel.

The Southern Naval Command, Cochin Shipyard and Coast Guard have sonar sensors that could scan the lake bed. The sonar sensor or transducer works on the same principle of a radar system, converting electrical energy into acoustic waves.

The transducer sends acoustic signal which bounces off an object and returns an echo signal.

Experts felt using a dummy hard disk would help in identifying the echo signals emitted by the device that had been tossed into the lake.

The Navy has expressed willingness to provide the transducer.