THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the police inquiry into the death of six-year-old Devanandha at Elavoor in Kollam was on the right track. He stated that the police have not closed the case and were awaiting the test results of the samples sent to the Chemical Examiner’s Laboratory and Forensic Science Lab. The lab reports would help confirm whether the girl was subjected to any kind of sexual assault, he said.
The chief minister, while responding to the submission of Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala in the assembly, said the river stretch in which the child’s body was found had witnessed five deaths in the past ten years. Earlier, the minister had stated that the police had been directed to give special attention to children wandering in the streets. He also stated that the public should alert the police if they found any such children.
Devanandha went missing from her house on Thursday. A day later, her body was found in the Ithikkara river tributary near her house. The preliminary finding of the autopsy report said the cause of death was drowning.