BENGALURU: She had last worn a branded pink T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, when she was allegedly fatally assaulted by her mother’s paramour -- realtor GM Mohan --inside his car in Indiranagar on March 24, reportedly over the choice of an ice cream. Her T-shirt was bloodstained and her six-year-old body carried obvious marks of external injuries on her face.
“Bloodstained fluid oozing out from both nostrils and mouth. Tip of fingers and nail beds showed bluish discoloration,” stated the postmortem report of six-year-old Vennela P. Her face bore multiple abrasions; from her nose to her cheeks.
The Kadugodi police initially registered a case of suspicious (unnatural) death (UDR) under Section 194 (3) of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 after Vennela’s mother, advocate Priyanka, who is a co-accused and under arrest now, is said to have told the cops that Mohan and she, along with her daughter had travelled by road to Thiruvananthapuram, Alleppey and Madurai in the last three days to celebrate her birthday and Vennela had fallen sick because of travel and food poisoning. “She said the bruises on the face were because the child had fallen multiple times inside the car because she was unwell,” said sources.
The postmortem conducted at the Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre on March 25 stated that the cause of death was “combined effect of asphyxia as a result of obliteration of airway and blunt trauma to the abdomen sustained,” and turned the case from UDR to FIR.
‘400ml blood found in Vennela’s abdomen’
The FIR was registered over two months later, on June 4, under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 after sustained pressure from the victim’s father Praveen, his cousin - a forensic expert in the UK and some senior police officers, including the Lokayukta police.
Vennela’s autopsy report revealed that the “peritoneal cavity contained 400ml of frank blood and blood clots”. Mohan reportedly confessed to the police that he had hit Vennela in her abdomen with his elbow when she created a fuss on the ice cream and smothered her to stop her from crying. “From Indiranagar, they drove down to Kolar, had dinner and returned around 1.30 am to Bengaluru. Mohan is said to have taken Vennela, who by then had perhaps died, to her bedroom. Next morning, they took her to a private hospital for CPR and ventilation. The hospital authorities called the police after they found the child ‘brought dead.’ The police later sent the body to Vydehi for postmortem,” said sources.
“The delay in registering the FIR was because the police were awaiting the report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). The report, which came on May 27, ruled out food poisoning as claimed by Priyanka. The autopsy and FSL reports cleared that it was a case of murder. The police called Vennnela’s father for his statement. He came on June 4 from Davanagere. The FIR was registered the same day,” said sources. They added that there are several gaps in the murder case, which the police investigation will look into.
Meanwhile, three police personnel attached to the Kadugodi police station -- Inspector Rangaswamy, Sub-Inspector Ningaraju, and Station Writer Halesh Naik -- were suspended by Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh last week for alleged lapses in Vennela murder case, which include failure to timely register an FIR despite the postmortem report, delay in initiating a criminal investigation into the case for over two months and conducting an improper inspection of the crime scene.
