Confirming a serious slip up in concluding the suspicious death of a a 22-year-old woman in Palakkad as suicide, the State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) has directed the Crime Branch CID to launch a fresh probe against the victim’s husband and his relatives.
In a recent order, SPCA chairman K. Narayana Kurup has asked the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch CID in Palakkad to register a crime under IPC 304 (b) and 306 and take the case to its logical conclusion. The order follows a a complaint filed by Devu, who filed a complaint alleging foul play in the death of her daughter Anitha alias Greeshma.
Verifying the case details, Mr. Kurup found several discrepancies in the police investigation, which was “thoroughly biased in favour of the culprits.” Noting that the ingredients of the case fulfilled the offence under IPC 304(b) (atrocities on women), the chairman also accused the investigation officer of scripting a cock-and-bull story to protect someone to be proceeded against.
“There is a clear and unwarranted hesitancy on the part of the investigation officer in setting criminal law in motion against the culprits in spite of the fact that there is overwhelming evidence to sustain a charge under IPC 304(b) r/w 498(a) and Section 306 IPC (among others), despite being orally directed by this authority to do so,’’ the order said.
Strange phenomenon
An independent investigation by the authority earlier had revealed that the hook on which the woman had been hanging was almost 14 feet high from the ground while the furniture she had used for reaching the roof was just 1.5 meter high.
Similarly, an examination of the victim’s post-mortem examination report pointed to a strange phenomenon of nose bleeding in upward courses. She was found hanging from the roof of her parents’ house in June 2012, four years after her marriage. As per a complaint, the police hurriedly shifted the body for a post-mortem by turning down Devu’s requests to wait till her relatives arrived.
