Deputy Superintendent of Police (Narcotics) M.J. Sojan will head the reconstituted investigation team that will inquire into the death of two sisters in Palakkad.
Doctors who conducted autopsy on the girls had confirmed that they were victims of sexual abuse. The girls were found dead inside their hut at Attappallam, near Walayar, in a span of two months beginning January. The Home Department move assumes significance as the police team that investigated the death of the elder girl on January 13 drew criticism even from the Left Democratic Front leadership, including administrative reforms committee chairman and local MLA V.S. Achuthanandan.
There are allegations that the lapses of the police team resulted in the death of the second girl on March 4.
The Palakkad unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, the women’s wing of the CPI(M), had also come out against the Home Department and the investigators who closed files on the first incident, merely registering a case for unnatural death.
Though a relative of the victims was taken into custody for questioning then, he was allowed to go.
The mother of the victims on Tuesday told the media that they were murdered and there was no situation in the family for them to commit suicide. She said the police team that investigated the first incident had not given due consideration to her statement that it was a case of murder. Her statement against those who abused the elder girl sexually had also fallen on deaf ears.
Police sources said five persons were in custody in connection with the two incidents. Among them is a close relative of the victims and one hailing from Alappuzha, who stays close to the hut. Doctors T. Priyada and P.B. Gujaral, who conducted autopsy of the girls, confirmed that they were victims of multiple sexual assaults and unnatural sex abuse.
