Kochi: Investigation into the last hours of two fashion models killed in a car accident on the Ernakulam Bypass early on November 1 is now on following revelations that another vehicle had trailed them and unsavoury incidents had likely occurred at a high-end hotel from where they had commenced their last trip. The hotelier, Roy Joseph Vayalat, was arrested along with five employees on Wednesday night as it became clear that they had destroyed digital evidence showing the presence of the two women Ansy Kabeer and Anjana Shajan as well as other guests at a DJ party.
Kabeer and Anjana Shajan were heading to Thrissur after a late-night party at the No 18 Hotel at Fort Kochi when their car crashed into the median after hitting a two-wheeler at Chakkaraparambu on the Vyttila-Edappally stretch of the Ernakulam Bypass early on November 1. While the models were killed instantly, their friend Mohammad Ashiq died a few days later.
Here is the timeline of the events hours before the accident and the subsequent developments.
- November 1 - Miss South India and Miss Kerala 2019 Ansy Kabeer, 25 and Miss Kerala 2019 first runner-up Anjana Shajan, 26, die after their car rammed a tree near Chakkaraparambu at Palarivattom in Ernakulam district. K A Mohammed Ashiq, a native of Vemballur in Thrissur, and Abdul Rahman, of Mala in Thrissur, suffer serious injuries. Abdul Rahman had been at the wheel.
- November 7 - Ashiq, 25, son of Vemballur native Ashraf, dies and the death toll in the accident is now three.
- November 8 - The police arrest Abdul Rahman, who had been at the wheel at the time of the accident. He had been in an inebriated state, while driving the car.
- November 13 - Footage shows a person, who reached the site soon after the accident, getting out of the car, takes a look and immediately leaves. Two cars had been following the car that met with the accident from Fort Kochi till Chakkaraparambu. These cars had been involved in a chase from Kundannoor, as per CCTV images.
- November 14 - The CCTV images of a DJ party at the No 18 Hotel in Fort Kochi in which the accident victims took part are destroyed by the staff at the behest of the owner, as per the statements to the police. The police question Ernakulam native Saiju Thankachan, who was travelling in one of these cars.
- November 16 - Roy Joseph Vayalat, the owner of No 18, is questioned by the police for 11 hours and let off. Roy handed over one of the two digital video recorders (DVR) that contained the CCTV images of the hotel, to the police.
- November 17 - Roy and five of the hotel staff are arrested.
