Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Feb 14: Parents of Sowjanya, the 17-year-old who was brutally raped and killed in a deserted spot at Dharmastala in October 2012, on Tuesday February 14 welcomed the CBI court's recent order for further probe into the case.
Addressing a press meet here, Sowjanya mother Kusumavati said, "We strongly believe that we will get justice. The court's verdict to investigate the murder case further has bought some ray of hope. The police and the CBI have failed to investigate and nab the culprit.
"We are also confident that the verdict will definitely come in our favour. Till then, we will not give up our protest and demand for justice. Be it the people or the media, everyone has supported and raised their voice.
"We had also mentioned names of three persons who are primarily involved in this case, but neither the CBI nor the police interrogated them," she said.
During the press meet, Sowjanya's mother broke down while pleading for justice for her daughter.
Sowjanya's father Chandappa Gowda said, "Police have arrested a mentally unstable person Santosh, who has no connection to this case. He is innocent. We urge the police and the CBI to arrested the real culprits whose names we have already submitted. The court's verdict may speed up the investigation and we will definitely get justice."
Accusing the police of destroying evidence in the case, social activist Vishnumurthy Bhat said, "When the incident occured, police did not register the case initially. The then SP Abhishek Goyal and SI Yogesh completely misled the case by destroying the evidence. In order to divert the case and mislead the people, Santhosh was taken into custody as accused in the case. We urge that brain mapping or lie detector test should be done on the suspects. This is nothing but a pre-planned murder.
"There was heavy rain on the day of the incident, but Sowjanya's belongings like bag and books were dry, and her umbrella was missing. The entire crime scene was tampered with.
Claiming that the doctor too had a role to play in misleading the investigation, he said, "The doctor deliberately did not mention bite marks and other injuries in the post-mortem report. The report was filed in a hurry. There was pressure to dispose the body at the earliest and no scientific investigation was done. Not even canine squads were used.
"However, this order from the court has given us a ray of hope. We will continue our struggle until justice is done," he said.
In a press note, the parents alleged that Dr Adam was pressurized before the post-mortem was conducted. "We and hospital staff had seen impression of bite marks on Sowjanya's chest. It can also be seen in the photo. But the doctor purposely omitted this important point in the postmortem report. The teeth marks would have helped in properly identifying the criminals. Even the vaginal fluids collected were destroyed with the connivance of Goel, Yogish Kumar, and Dr Adam," the press note stated.
The parents alleged that Santosh Rao, who was caught hold of by the suspects themselves, was led to the spot where Sowjanya's body was found, by Yogish Kumar, Sundar Shetty and other police personnel secretly and he was 'forcibly trained to be part of the fake procedure of taking over clothes etc which were placed there the previous day, from the spot'. It is alleged that the SP and police department were guilty of appointing police sub-inspector, Yogish Kumar, to investigate the case, as the procedure requires appointment of an officer of the tank of not less than police circle inspecor, for investigating serious crimes like rape.
The parents said that when they asked the CBI officers to check calls received by Yogish Kumar during this period, and go through records of the mobile tower at Dharmasthala, they threatened them. They claimed that the CBI officers also harassed them.
"We have not got any help from the government since Sowjanya was raped, and no one including officials,ministers or women's commission, visited our family. We suspect that someone had pressurized women's commission, which usually registers suo motu cases in such incidents, not to take cognizance of this casem," they added.
Social activist Robert Rosario and human rights activist Amritha Shetty were present.