A day after reconstituting a police team investigating the death of two sisters at Attappallam, near Walayar, the government on Thursday suspended from service Palakkad Kasaba sub-inspector P.C. Chacko on the charge of dereliction of duty.
He had investigated the death of the 13-year-old elder sister in January. The sisters were found dead in a span of 52 days beginning January 12. Thrissur Zone Inspector-General M.R. Ajith Kumar told The Hindu that disciplinary action had also been recommended against Deputy Superintendents of Police V.S. Muhammad Kasim and P. Vasudevan, who supervised the investigation.
Former Kasaba Circle Inspector Vipin Das would also face disciplinary action.
The action against the officers was taken on the basis of a report submitted by Superintendent of Police Debesh Kumar Behera. Mr. Behera found that the investigators had failed to consider the post-mortem examination report and the testimony of the surgeon that the girl was continuously subjected to sexual abuse before her death. There are allegations that the inaction on the part of police led to a situation in which the nine-year-old younger girl was subjected to sexual abuse. Though investigators are yet to confirm whether the death of the elder girl was a case of murder or suicide, evidence accessed by them are pointing to the murder of the younger girl.
The special investigation team under Deputy Superintendent of Police (Narcotics) M.J. Sojan took statements of relatives and neighbours at Attappallam on Thursday.
Sources said investigators found visuals of the sexual assault on the girls from mobile phones of the five persons in custody.
The police arrested two persons late on Thursday evening in connection with the death of the girls. The arrested were identified as Kallangattu Madhu, 27, and K. Shibu, 43.
Madhu is a cousin of the mother of the victims and hails from Attappallam. Shibu hails from Rajakkad in Idukki.
The police said Shibu was a confidant of the father of the younger girl and he used to stay in the same hut. The elder girl was from an earlier marriage of her mother.
