ALAPPUZHA: Shreya's death was a murder and the Crime Branch team has already completed a preliminary inquiry in connection with the case, a Crime Branch top official told Express here on Monday.
The Shreya case, which has been investigated by the Alappuzha South police, was handed over by DGP Jacob Punnoose to the Crime Branch after the local police failed to clear the mystery shrouding the death.
"We need strong evidence to prove the case and we have started the inquiry in a totally different way. We have analysed many factors that might have led to the death of Shreya and we have reasons to believe that Shreya was murdered on October 16 night," the officer said and added that, however, the Crime Branch had not officially taken over the case from the local police till Monday.
Alappuzha South CI V K Sanal Kumar, who is probing the case, told Express that they had not received any official letter in connection with the handing over of the case to the Crime Branch till Monday evening.
"We are still carrying on with the investigation," he said. Following a statement of a shopkeeper that he had seen Shreya's father Benny, an autorickshaw driver, in front of the ACCEPT around 11.30 p.m. on October 16, the local police has interrogated Benny.