The Crime Branch of Kerala police on 9 May reached actor Dileep’s house in Aluva to question his wife and actor Kavya Madhavan. Dileep is the eighth accused and allegedly the main conspirator behind the sexual assault of a female actor in February 2017.
Kavya was summoned last month in connection with the ongoing extended probe into the actor assault case of 2017, which is to be completed before 30 May. She was asked to appear before the Aluva police club on 11 April, but she had requested that the interrogation take place at her home instead, so a crime branch team reached the actor’s home in Aluva on Monday morning.
What Led to the Questioning of Madhavan?
The actor had been summoned on the basis of new evidence that emerged in the case, following a few audio clips allegedly containing a conversation between Dileep’s brother-in-law Suraj and Sarath, a family friend.
The audio clips were retrieved from the phone belonging to Suraj, as part of another conspiracy case, in which Dileep and Suraj are two of the accused. In one of the audio clips, Suraj allegedly suggests that Kavya had knowledge of the crime and its planning.
These phones were retrieved during a raid on 13 January 2022 by Crime Branch officials at the houses of Dileep and his brother Anoop. Several phones belonging to Dileep, Anoop, Suraj, and another relative, Appu, were seized.
The police had earlier told the Kerala High Court that further investigation is necessary in the case, and that the interrogation of several people, including Kavya Madhavan, can be done “effectively only after the complete verification of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL reports)” of the digital data from the phones seized from the accused.
Earlier, the probe team had tried to question Kavya “on crucial information received from the digital evidence” but they were told that she was in Chennai and would be available only next week.
(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)