2010 suspected rape-murder of 13-yr-old: HC hands over probe to CBI

The high court accepted the arguments that there were too many loose ends in the case

MUMBAI: Following the February 10 order from the Bombay High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation into the unnatural death of a 13-year-old schoolgirl from Vasai who was allegedly raped and murdered in 2010.

Following the February 10 order from the Bombay High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation into the unnatural death of a 13-year-old schoolgirl from Vasai who was allegedly raped and murdered in 2010. (Shutterstock)

The CBI on Thursday re-registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also took over the case papers from the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which was investigating the suspected rape and murder.

The incident took place on August 27, 2010, when the minor went for a Scout-Guide camp organised by her school in Tungareshwar forest near Navghar. Around 1:30 pm the minor and other students were playing in the streams when the heavy rains left the current too strong to navigate. While other students managed to swim out of the water, the minor got carried away and went missing.

Two hours later, their teacher was informed that the missing minor’s body was spotted downstream. The body was eventually found lying amid large stones, and the police were soon alerted. The post-mortem indicated the possibility of sexual assault while the probable cause of death was mentioned as “haemodynamic shock due to head injury”.

Dissatisfied with the police investigation, the minor’s father approached the Bombay High Court asking the court to transfer the probe to an independent agency. The high court on March 23, 2011, transferred the probe to the state CID. The court held that the prosecution could not explain the injuries sustained by the deceased on her private parts and that the death of the minor was either the result of “a freak accident” or “a diabolic crime.”

However, the CID also later concluded that “no offence was made out” and filed a closure report in a Vasai judicial magistrate’s court on June 11, 2013. The deceased’s father then approached the high court again, but his plea was dismissed. The court however, allowed him to challenge the closure report and gave him the liberty to ask the magistrate court to transfer the probe to yet another investigative agency if the closure report felt inadequate.

The magistrate court rejected the CID’s closure report after which the father of the deceased again approached the high court for transfer of the probe. The high court accepted the arguments that there were too many loose ends in the case and noted the post-mortem notes of August 31 of 2010, clearly stated the possibility of sexual assault.

“There are too many loose ends in the investigation and they proceeded only on the premise of accidental death. They had not even considered the serious possibility of the offence being of rape with murder,” the court said. “Track pants worn by her were found but the other clothes were not recovered. No efforts were made to search the person who had first seen the dead body,” the high court added and transferred the case to the central agency.