Manju Warrier, the Malayalam actor and former wife of actor Dileep, has identified his voice as well as those of the other accused in the 2017 female actor abduction and sexual assault case in the audio clips released by filmmaker Balachandra Kumar.
Dileep is currently facing trial as the chief conspirator in the abduction and assault case. He is also being investigated for allegedly conspiring to kill the police officers who probed the assault case.
Warrier, who is also a close friend of the survivor, is a witness in the case. She was summoned to a hotel in Kochi, on Sunday, and was questioned for about four hours by crime branch officials. During this time, she reportedly identified the voice samples belonging to Dileep, his brother Anoop, and brother-in-law Suraj.
The audio clips identified by her included those released by Kumar. It is notable that the current fresh investigation into the case, almost five years after a female actor was abducted and assaulted in a moving car, was initiated as a result of Kumar’s allegations and his release of these audio clips implicating Dileep and the other accused.
The filmmaker had claimed that Dileep had watched visuals of the sexual assault at his house and that he personally knew Suni, the first accused. He had also alleged that Dileep had influenced some of the significant witnesses in the case, who later turned hostile during the trial.
Earlier, Dileep’s friends and acquaintances had also identified the voice samples. The audio clips have been sent in for forensic examination and the results are awaited.
Meanwhile, Dileep’s wife and actor Kavya Madhavan, who was supposed to be questioned on Monday, will now be interrogated on Wednesday. In response to a summon notice sent to her earlier, she had told officials that she would be unable to reach Aluva on Monday from Chennai and requested a postponement. As per her request, the interrogation has been rescheduled to 2 pm on Wednesday at her Padmasarovaram residence.
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Recently, a few audio clips have surfaced which appear to implicate Kavya in the actor assault case. One of them is said to mention Kavya’s role in the incident, while in another clip, a voice that sounds like Dileep’s is heard saying that it was not he who had to undergo punishment but another woman.
Kavya is likely to be questioned about these as well as other recent developments in the case.
Recently, cyber expert Sai Sankar surrendered to the police and confessed to having erased data related to the actor assault case from Dileep’s phone. He further said that it would be possible for him to recover the data in question.
For a full timeline of the female actor abduction and assault case, see here.