Ker Govt orders Crime Branch probe into CA student's death

Kerala government today announced a Crime Branch police probe into the recent mysterious death of an 18-year old girl pursuing Chartered Accountancy in Kochi.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made the announcement in the state assembly even as Congress-led UDF opposition staged a walk out alleging police inaction and demanding action against "erring" investigators.
The body of the girl was found in the backwaters near Ernakulam wharf last week and the family has said she died under mysterious circumstances as there was no possibility of her committing suicide.
Replying to a notice of adjournment motion moved by Kerala Congress (J) leader Anoop Jacob, Vijayan said a special investigation team of the Crime Branch would probe the case. He said investigation was going on in the right direction and those responsible would be brought before law, however, highly-placed they may be.

"Police have intervened into the issue effectively since they received the missing complaint by the girl's parents. They tried to collect her mobile phone details soon after this and launched thorough investigation," he said. "Now, the investigation is going on... But considering the gravity of the issue, the Crime Branch will further investigate the case," Chief Minister added. He said the agency would also probe the claim that the local police had refused to accept the complaint by the girl's parents on March 5, the day she had went missing. "There will be no laxity on the part of investigators and stringent action will be taken if found so," he said adding the government would not let criminals to upset the state's peaceful social atmosphere.

Jacob alleged Police was trying to write off the girl's death as a case of drowning or suicide and had accepted the post mortem report, he said.

He alleged that police 'inaction' to accept the complaint led to the girl's death.
Accusing police of trying to turn every such 'unnatural' death into suicides, he said "Atrocities against women and children are on the rise in the state. The government is making only pronouncements, but in reality nothing seems to be happening," he charged.
CCTV visuals of a local church had showed that two persons, on a motorbike, were seen following her just before she had gone missing, Jacob said rejecting the Crime Branch probe as inadequate.

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Meanwhile, the girl's family today alleged that police did not act effectively when they lodged a missing complaint with police in Ernakulam on March 5, the day she had gone missing.
Shaji Varghese, the girl's father, asked the government to launch a thorough probe to solve the mystery behind his daughter's death.
In a related development, an all-party meeting held at Piravom today called for a dawn to dusk hartal in the Municipal area tomorrow in protest against police's 'failure' to solve the case.
The meeting also decided to send an all party delegation along with the girl's family to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking justice to the girl's family.

BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi visited the girl's family in Piravom today.