Thrissur: Three have been arrested in connection with the Kochi flat assault case, the police informed on Thursday. They were arrested for hiding the accused in the case, Martin Joseph.
The search for Martin has been intensified after the arrest of his aides.
An examination of Martin's cell phone location has revealed that he reached his hometown Mundur. Though two teams of the Kochi and Thrissur police respectively are camping in the area in search of the absconding man, they were unable to locate the accused.
A 27-year-old woman, who was in a live-in relationship with the man, has accused him of sexually and physically assaulting her after locking her up at a flat in Kochi for nearly a month.
Martin has been on the run since the Ernakulam central police registered a case on April 8 on the basis of the woman's complaint.
The woman, hailing from Kannur, was also allegedly cheated of Rs 5 lakh by Joseph, police said.
The Kochi city police said the two were in a live-in relationship since February 2020 when the woman was working as a fashion designer here.
The man allegedly assaulted her sexually and physically after locking her up in their flat for around 22 days, but she managed to escape from his captivity in March.
She suffered severe injuries on her body due to the torture, police said.
