Kochi: In a bizarre turn of events, a witness statement has revealed that Malayalam actor Manju Warrier, who is also actor Dileep's ex-wife, threw his phone containing crucial evidence regarding the case into the Aluva river. Dileep is accused of being the mastermind behind the 2017 actor assault case, where a quotation gang kidnapped and sexually assaulted a female actor.

The Crime Branch will question Manju again to confirm the validity of the statement.

According to the witness statement, the phone contained messages and images that proved Dileep indeed harboured a grudge towards the actor-survivor, and that Manju on seeing this threw the phone into the river in a fit of rage.

It has also been mentioned that Manju met with many in the film industry to find out if there was any truth behind what she saw in the phone. However, nobody except the survivor cooperated.

The Crime Branch believes it was after this that Dileep became infuriated with the survivor and decided to seek vengeance.

Manju supposedly even contacted a close relative of Kavya Madhavan, Dileep's current wife, to gather more information.

The police probe team had on Tuesday checked the bank locker of actor Kavya Madhavan at a private bank at Panampilly Nagar in Kochi. The locker was checked reportedly in response to allegations that the visuals of the assault taken by the abductors of the actor had leaked from the custody of the court.

Separate police teams searched the locker in the morning and in the evening. The police were tight-lipped about the queries regarding the articles recovered from the locker.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch team has come to the conclusion that during the questioning, Kavya denied many things for which the police have clear evidence. Hence, the probe team is planning to question Kavya again.

On February 17, 2017, the renowned actor was sexually assaulted by a gang in a moving car near Kochi. Subsequently, the gang members and Dileep were arrested. It is suspected Dileep was the mastermind of the sensational crime.