Sreeja’s death leaves many questions unanswered

Forty days afterher death, the police arrested her classmate Shiva Prasad Reddy on charge of driving her to suicide

Having investigated scores of suicides, there is a tendency among some investigators not to take each such case seriously.

The suicide of an engineering student Sreeja in the house of her friend Bindu in Vansthalipuram once again proves why the police cannot dismiss cases of suspicious deaths simply.

The twists and turns in this student’s death case since it was reported on November 7, 2012 to the arrest of her classmate Shiva Prasad Reddy raise questions about the way it was probed.

Initially, the police maintained that Sreeja, living in Torrur of Hayathnagar, came to the house of her classmate Bindu in NGO Colony of Vanasthalipuram to talk about their exams. Quoting Ms. Bindu, they said Sreeja went into a room after seeking drinking water. By the time Ms. Bindu returned, she hanged herself from the ceiling with a

chunni .

While the police stuck to the version for the next few days, the victim’s family members disputed it arguing that there was no motive strong enough to drive the woman to suicide. Interestingly, the police officers dismissed foul play behind the death, describing it as a typical case of suicide due to personal reasons.

The claims of the victim’s family and the police apart, the victim going to the house of her friend to kill herself was mysterious, an angle not vigorously pursued by the police. Forty days after her death, the police arrested her classmate Shiva Prasad Reddy on charge of driving her to death.

All these days, the victim’s family members went on representing to the higher-ups and the Home Minister, expressing suspicion that there was more to her death than what meets the eye. Announcing Reddy’s arrest, police said he was present in Bindu’s house when Sreeja came there on November 7.

According to them, Reddy was moving closely with both the women. Sreeja picked up an argument with him alleging that of late she was avoiding him, tried to slash her wrists with a knife and later hanged herself, they said.

It is a practice for police to analyse the call data records of the victims, suspects and even persons present near the place of offence. Does it then require 40 days to ascertain that Reddy was regularly in touch with the two women?

Reddy was actually present among the persons who broke open the doors of the room in which Sreeja committed suicide. How his presence didn’t attract attention of police? The marks of wounds on her wrists also indicate that something is fishy.

What exactly happened on that day? Was only Reddy responsible for her death? Why the police failed to elicit details of the sequence of events from Ms. Bindu in the first few days of the investigation?

Although Reddy has been arrested, the police are yet to answer these crucial questions.