The family of Payal Surekha, a Dell employee, who was found murdered in her flat in J.P. Nagar here in December 2010, heaved a sigh of relief with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) searching the house of the main accused near Pattamundai in Orissa as it started investigation on Wednesday.
The CBI action follows a direction by the Supreme Court on March 15 after much legal battle. Payal Surekha was found murdered on December 17, 2010.
Though her husband Anant Narayan Mishra was initially suspected to be involved in the murder, the police arrested his friend James Kumar Ray whose house the investigating agency searched on Wednesday.
Recalling the ordeal, Payal Surekha’s father, Deen Dayal Surekha, said: “Despite my age, coupled with health problems, and after having lost a daughter, I underwent so much of physical and mental pain in visiting Bangalore from Assam at least 12 times, desperately hoping for justice for my daughter. When all efforts went in vain and having no other option, I was compelled to approach the Supreme Court.”
He said: “Though we have been telling the police that there was more than one person involved in my daughter’s murder, including my son-in-law, the police have failed to make any arrests. My son-in-law’s father is a retired deputy superintendent of police and his mother a retired superintendent of police. We have also pointed out that all three are involved in the murder.”
However, the police are reluctant in making arrests or interrogating them, and “we do not know on what basis they have been given a clean chit,” Mr. Deen Dayal Surekha said.
Charging the jurisdictional J.P. Nagar police with not adhering to instructions from their higher-ups, he said that the police filed a charge sheet despite the Commissioner of Police directing them for re-investigation.
