HAVERI: A day after a missing college student from Haveri was found killed, police suspect that she may have been drugged before being murdered. However, no arrests have been made yet.
On Thursday, the partially burnt body of the 17-year-old PU student was found under the Varada river bridge on NH 4, about 14 km from Haveri. While the family and relatives of the victim suspect that she may have been raped, police denied this and said they were awaiting the post-mortem report. Haveri SP K Parashuram told TNIE, “It is a case of murder and destruction of evidence. We have booked cases under Sections 302 and 201 of IPC. Three teams have been formed,” he said.
The girl was living in a village in Savanur taluk and used to travel about 28 km to her college in Haveri every day. On Monday, she left for college with her cousin in his car but when she did not return home, her father filed a missing person’s complaint with the women police station in Haveri the same evening. On Thursday, some villagers discovered the partially burnt body near the Varada bridge and informed the police.
The family confirmed her identity going by the jewellery and college uniform she was wearing that day. Police suspect that after the murder, the accused may have brought the body and tried to burn it. While the lower part of the body is completely charred, the face and upper part is partially burnt. A day before Renuka’s body was discovered, villagers had complaint about foul smell near the bridge, but they could not find anything.
It is said that the car in which the girl went with her cousin is either missing or was involved in an accident. On Friday, police detained the cousin for questioning. They also visited the victim’s house and have questioned her classmates from the village and neighbours. The parents’ statements too were recorded.
“She may have have joined a group of friends for Friendship Day celebrations on Monday evening. Our relatives who were looking for her on Monday found a few girls from her college holding cake boxes in their hands. They asked the girls to leave as it was late. Police are questioning her friends and looking into her call records,” said a relative.
On Friday, thousands of students hit the roads in Haveri demanding justice for the girl. They blocked the old Pune-Bengaluru highway for more than two hours.
Angry Students hit the streets
Hundreds of students from various colleges in Haveri took to the streets on Friday demanding justice to the girl who was found murdered on Thursday. Over 4,000 students from PU to PG colleges took part in a rally which had a length of over 2-km. This was the first major protest that Haveri witnessed after the agitation for separate district 20 years ago.
‘Hang those culprits responsible for my daughter’s murder’
“Who will give justice to me. My daughter is no more. No one should experience what my daughter went through,” said father of the girl who was raped and murdered in Savanur taluk of Haveri district. When a team of
The New Indian Express visited the house of the murdered girl, the latter’s mother and relatives were in an inconsolable state. They spent three anxious days and nights waiting for the girl. “I have no idea why my daughter was targeted. It’s most cruel and inhuman treatment that no girl should go through. The incident leaves a bad impression on the minds of parents, who send their children to colleges,” he said.