A forensic examination of the clothes of the 23-year-old law student, who allegedly slashed the genitals of her ‘sexual aggressor,’ a 54-year-old godman, has ‘turned up no leading biological evidence pointing to sexual abuse,’ according to the Kerala police.
The presumptive tests for semen have yielded a negative result. Confirmatory tests were under way at the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory (SFSL). They have, so far, confirmed the initial finding. The ‘victim’ has refused to be medically examined for sexual assault and remains incommunicado. However, the fingerprints lifted from the assault weapon, a knife, matched that of the ‘victim,’ the police said.
The incident allegedly occurred at the woman’s house early on May 21. She had said it was a desperate act of self-defence against years of rape and sexual abuse.
Officials said the initial public perception ‘severely limited’ the police from ioing in for an investigation in a dispassionate way. They booked Gangeshananda alias Hari on the charge of sexually abusing the woman as a child, he being a regular visitor to her house since 2008.
‘Unclear’ about assailant
However, a slew of intriguing factors have prompted the police to transfer the case to the Crime Branch. For one, Hari was still ‘unclear’ about the identity of his assailant. His statement was riddled with glaring inconsistencies, investigators said.
Hari’s counsel had submitted a letter, purportedly written by the ‘victim,’ in the court for inquiry. The questionable document, along with an audio clip, suggested that the police had prevailed upon the woman to depict Hari as her sexual tormentor. It hinted at the involvement of a shadowy instigator and a larger conspiracy behind the crime. There were also attempts to tie the assault on Hari to his role in the 2008 agitation to ‘regain the birth place’ of Chattambi Swamikal from its legal owner, a ranking police official.
