BENGALURU: The mystery surrounding a five-year-old girl’s body, lying shrouded in a blanket on the footpath of the parking lot of KSR Bengaluru City Railway Station, has deepened. Initially, it was suspected that the girl was murdered by her vagrant mother and her paramour, and dumped on the footpath; its discovery on July 4 had shocked the public, railway officials and police.
It has now been discovered that the girl is alive and well, and living in Kolar. Police tracked down the couple to Kolar two days ago, and found the girl with them.
Unidentified miscreants were suspected of murdering the girl and leaving the body covered in a blanket late at night. Five special teams formed by the Government Railway Police (GRP) to crack the murder, interviewed multiple eyewitnesses and arrived at the conclusion that her mother, who was a beggar at the station, and her paramour were involved in the murder.
On July 14, police announced a reward for any information on the duo. They named them Raja, alias Manikanta, and Heena, alias Kaali, and released their pictures under the ‘Wanted’ category, urging the public to report if they spotted them. Sources told TNIE, “Police found the family in Kolar two days ago. The child who was murdered is not the one we suspected, and we don’t know the identity of the dead girl.”
Deputy Inspector General of Police, GRP, SD Sharanappa confirmed that the child was indeed alive. Asked how they wrongly identified the dead girl, he said, “The girl’s relatives identified the body as hers. Both girls look similar.”
When this reporter attempted to speak to GRP SP Soumyalatha for details, she refused to respond to calls or messages. The investigation officer, inspector Ravi Shankar, too did not answer multiple calls.
The Divisional Railway Manager said he didn’t know the status of the case, and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) could be contacted.
A top RPF cop who had claimed a month ago that it would be easy to crack the case, appeared to be clueless, and the case is back to square one for the GRP.