CB seizes devices from cyber expert

Kochi: Crime Branch (CB) sleuths – probing the alleged conspiracy to endanger the lives of police officers who investigated the actor rape case – raided three locations in Kozhikode on Thursday to ascertain the involvement of cyber expert Sai Shankar in the case. CB issued a notice to the private cyber expert to appear for interrogation on Friday.
CB sources said that they raided Shankar’s home, a flat where his in-laws reside and a business establishment run by his wife in Kozhikode.Sleuths seized an I-Mac desktop, a digital tablet and two phones during the raid. The devices will be sent for forensic examination.
Senior officers said that it was scientific evidence that led them to this person. “In the forensic examination report we received two weeks ago, we found out about the I-Mac. We have found out that it was synced to one among the phones when the deletion process took place. We identified the I-Mac and seized it during the raids. We suspect that this device was used to delete contents from the devices belonging to the accused,” said a senior CB officer.
The officer said that they are now focusing on proving that the deleted files were related to the conspiracy case. “We suspect that the I-Mac was brought to Kochi when the deletion took place. Now the task before us is to scientifically prove that the deletion was connected to the conspiracy. One among the challenges is that we have already retrieved around 2TB data from these devices, and we must work our way through it and find files connected to the case. We are confident about finding them,” said the officer.
Meanwhile, CB sources added that they have received information about previous cases against Shankar, including a cheating case. However, CB is yet to arraign him as an accused though they suspect that he was involved in evidence destruction.
Recently, Shankar had filed a petition before the high court claiming that the probe team was forcing him to name advocate B Raman Pillai for destroying evidence from the mobile phones of the accused, including that of actor Dileep.
The case pertains to the FIR registered against Dileep, his brother Anoop and brother in-law Suraj for offences such as criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation. HC had granted pre-arrest bail to the accused.