Bihar NEET aspirant’s death set to be a POCSO case

Meanwhile, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team collected DNA samples of more than 12 persons, including family members and suspected persons along with one arrested person for further corroborating “sexual assault” charge

Two weeks after the mysterious death of NEET aspirant in a private Patna hostel and subsequent autopsy and forensic revelation of sexual assault on her, the police on Tuesday moved the magistrate court to send the record of the case to protection of children from sexual offence (POCSO), Court, Patna, for further proceedings.

Officials in the know of details about the case and related proceedings said that the special police team moved the magistrate court to send the record of the case to POCSO court as FSL report corroborated the autopsy suggestion of “rape” of the victim. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Meanwhile, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team collected DNA samples of more than 12 persons, including family members and suspected persons along with one arrested person named Manish Kumar Rajan who is in the Beur jail.

The FSL team collected DNA samples of all suspects on Tuesday at a hospital in Gardanibagh under the supervision of a medical team and a magistrate. The samples were sealed and sent to a forensic laboratory for comparison with biological evidence recovered from the student’s clothes.

Officials in the know of details about the case and related proceedings said that the special police team moved the magistrate court to send the record of the case to POCSO court as FSL report corroborated the autopsy suggestion of “rape” of the victim .“The case will now be converted into the POCSO case as the girl is said to be a minor. The girl’s mother has said she was 16-year-old. The court will verify this and admit the case,” an official said.

The NEET aspirant was found unconscious at Shambhu Hostel in Chitragupt Nagar, Patna, on January 6. She died in a private hospital on January 11. In its initial probe, the Patna police had declared it a case of “suicide resulting from overdose of sleeping pills” but the postmortem report hinted at bruises on her body, suggesting “sexual assault” on her.

Following this, an SIT was formed to probe the case.

A vital twist came when her family provided the deceased’s clothes to the investigating team and they were later sent to the FSL for examination. The FSL team, in its finding, traced human semen on the clothes which, the girl’s family claimed, were worn by the victim on the day she was found unconscious.

On the basis of its report, the FSL team is preparing a DNA profile as part of further investigation. The DNA will be later matched with that of the arrested accused.

Meanwhile, officials aware of the ongoing SIT investigation said that the police team has come to know of movement of some persons near the hostel on the day of incident. “The CCTV footage shows loitering near the Shambhu Hostel on January 6. Their presence was further corroborated with call detail records (CDR) and location analysis,” an official said.