Suhail drove Mini Cooper at 160km/h, covered 0.5km in 11 sec before Kochi fatal crash, device to be sent to Germany

Kochi: The Mini Cooper involved in the fatal crash at Nedumbassery that claimed three lives was travelling at more than 160 km/h around the time of the collision at 1.41 am, with a video recovered from a co-accused person's mobile phone and CCTV footage from the accident route providing crucial evidence, police sources said.

According to police sources, investigators recovered mobile phone footage recorded by one of the co-accused persons, who was sitting in the rear seat of the Mini Cooper driven by the prime accused Suhail. The video captures the car’s dashboard speedometer as the vehicle accelerates from approximately 140 km/h to nearly 160 km/h in the minute leading up to the crash.

“The video shows the car’s speedometer climbing from around 140 km/h to 160 km/h between 1:40 am and 1:41 am. The accident occurred at 1:41 am, and investigators believe the car was travelling at more than 160 km/h at the time of the crash,” a senior police officer said.

However, the exact speed at the moment of impact can be established only after the examination of the vehicle’s Event Data Recorder (EDR), the officer said.

The sequence captured in the video has emerged as an important piece of evidence in establishing the vehicle’s speed immediately before the collision.

Investigators also retrieved footage from five consecutive high-definition surveillance cameras installed along the 500-metre stretch leading to the crash site on the Athani–Nedumbassery Airport Road, which is maintained and monitored by Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL).

According to police sources, investigators used the timestamps from the camera feeds to calculate the time taken by the Mini Cooper to cover the distance. The car traversed the stretch in approximately 11 seconds, indicating a speed of around 163 km/h.

The CCTV-based calculations and the speedometer reading in the mobile phone video provide two separate lines of evidence pointing to the car being driven at extremely high speed before the crash.

The findings have strengthened the police investigation into the high-speed drive that ended in the deaths of three people.

During the initial scene reconstruction on Athani Road, Suhail had reportedly told investigators that he was driving at around 120 km/h.

Investigators have also examined social media posts on Suhail’s Instagram account that allegedly showed him driving vehicles at speeds of up to 220 km/h.

Two high-speed runs before fatal collision
Surveillance analysis has also revealed that the car was driven along the same stretch of road twice before the fatal collision. Investigators found that the vehicle was driven at similarly high speeds during these runs.

The police are examining the footage to establish the sequence of events and the conduct of the occupants before the crash. The findings could be significant in the prosecution’s effort to establish the circumstances in which the vehicle was driven in the moments leading up to the collision.

EDR data to establish exact speed
The police are pursuing a forensic examination of the Mini Cooper’s Event Data Recorder, which can preserve technical information about a vehicle's operation around a crash.

The unit is to be examined at a specialised BMW facility in Germany, as investigators seek access to data on speed, braking, throttle input and steering behaviour in the moments leading up to the collision. The precise speed at impact will be established after the data is retrieved and analysed.

Meanwhile, Aluva DySP Baiju Paulose, who is leading the investigation, is interacting with the families of the three deceased victims to record their detailed statements as the investigation approaches completion.

Police sources indicated that the scientific reports would be incorporated into the final investigation findings before the charge sheet is filed in court.