HUBBALLI/HAVERI: On Thursday, the partially burnt body of the student, was found at the spot, located 14 km from Haveri. The girl's father, had lodged a complaint with the police about his daughter going missing from her residence on August 6th. She was dropped to her college by her cousin on Monday morning. When she did not return to her village located at a distance from Haveri the parents approached the police.
Police sources hinted that the deceased girl may have joined a group of friends for friendship day celebrations on Monday evening. It is suspected that the accused many have mixed something in the cake and afterwards they may have tried to rape her and killed her. The criminals dumped her body under a bridge which was recovered on Thursday.
A day before her body was found few villagers had complained about a foul smell emitting under the bridge, but they could not find anything. Police said that the identification of the partially burnt body was made by the jewellery she was wearing and remains of uniform of the collage. Unconfirmed reports also suggested that acid may have been poured on the face of deceased to make identification difficult.
The police have now detained the cousin who dropped the victim to college on Monday. It is still not sure whether the cousin has any role in the crime, but the vehicle in which he dropped her is said to be missing or involved in an accident.
Haveri SP, K Parashuram, told TNIE that the initial reports suggests that the girl may have been murdered and then the accused tried to destroy the evidence by burning her body.
"So far we have not made any arrests in the case. We have taken up the investigation and three teams have been formed to nab the accused. We are inquiring with the family and friends to get any leads. The cases will be taken under IPC 302 and 201 for murder and destruction of evidence," he said.