Walayar victims’ mother writes to CBI director to change prosecutor

She denies prosecutor’s claim that she opposed CBI’s lie detection test

The mother of the two little sisters of Walayar who had been found hanging in mysterious circumstances in 2017 has appealed to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director to remove senior High Court lawyer K.P. Satheesan as CBI’s prosecutor in the case of her daughters’ death.

In a memorandum sent to the CBI Director on Thursday, she said she had no trust in Mr. Satheesan as some recent statements he made smacked of his insincerity.

She denied a statement that Mr. Satheesan made in a section of the media, while quitting as the special public prosecutor in the Attappady Madhu lynching case in the High Court, that she had opposed a lie detection test suggested by the CBI.

The woman, in her memorandum to the CBI Director, said she had not opposed the CBI’s request for a lie detection test. She said the failure of the prosecutors had helped the accused walk away scot-free from the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act court here, which has been trying the case since the children were found dead on different dates in 2017.

She said she had no way but to ask for a prosecutor of her choice in the light of the failure of the prosecution in the conduct of the case. “I do not want to lose this case once again because of the failure of the prosecutors,” she said.

The two sisters, aged 13 and nine, were found dead hanging in their house at Attappallam, near Walayar, on different dates in 2017. When the 13-year-old girl was found hanging on January 13, 2017 her nine-year-old sister was found dead in the same manner on March 4, 2017.

The post-mortem examination reports indicated that both girls had been victims of sexual abuse. The police investigation found that the siblings had ended their lives. The case, in which rape and murder were alleged, sparked an outrage and invited national attention when the POCSO court here exonerated all the accused for want of evidence in October 2019.

The victims’ mother, with the support of an action forum formed by Dalit and human rights activists, first approached the government seeking a re-investigation, and later the High Court demanding an inquiry by the CBI.

Pradeep Kumar M., one of the five accused in the case, committed suicide on November 4, 2020. He was found dead hanging in his house at Cherthala. The CBI took over the case following an order by the High Court in March 2021.

The court, however, rejected the first chargesheet submitted by the CBI, saying that it was a “carbon copy” of the police findings, and ordered a re-investigation by another CBI team. As the CBI investigation is on, the victims’ mother has demanded the appointment of a special public prosecutor of her choice.