The Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) on Tuesday accused the parents of the Kallakurichi schoolgirl, whose death inside a private school building on July 13 sparked large-scale violence on July 17, of not cooperating with the investigation.
Appearing before Justice V. Sivagnanam in the Madras High Court, State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah said the victim’s parents had shown to the investigators a mobile phone used by their daughter.
However, when the police insisted on handing over the phone to them, the parents backed off. He told the judge that the investigating team had issued summons thrice so far, asking the parents to hand over the phone but there was no response. “Where is that mobile phone? Why are they shying away from handing it over to the police?,” the SPP questioned.
The question was raised during the hearing of a petition filed by parents in July this year seeking a CB-CID probe into the death and also a re-postmortem of the body by a team of doctors, including a forensic expert of their choice. In the meantime, the DGP transferred the probe to the CB-CID and a re-postmortem was also conducted.
However, the court kept the petition pending to monitor the investigation into the violent incidents. When it was listed for hearing on Tuesday, Justice Sivagnanam wondered why he should keep the petition pending when the main prayer for a CB-CID probe had already been complied with.
Advocate R. Sankarasubbu, representing the girl’s parents, said his clients strongly believed that their daughter had not died by suicide and that it was a clear case of cold-blooded murder. Therefore, he urged the court to keep the petition pending and monitor the investigation.
After hearing him, the judge directed the parents to handover the phone to the police, if it was available with them, and adjourned the petition to October 10.
