Walayar sisters died by suicide: CBI investigation
KOCHI: The CBI investigation into the 2017 death of two sisters in Walayar claimed that the girls — aged 12 and nine — died by suicide.
“The opinion of the Medical Board indicated that the possibility of the children committing suicide cannot be ruled out, considering the traumatic conditions they were in. The forensic expert, after examining the room’s measurements and assessing the postmortem findings, opined that the possibility of homicide does not exist,” said the CBI chargesheet accessed by TNIE. The chargesheet was submitted to the CBI special court, Ernakulam, after the agency carried out further investigation in the case.
“After analysing the crime scene, inquest photographs, postmortem findings, and ancillary investigation reports, I am also of the opinion that the postmortem findings were consistent with death due to hanging,” said the forensic expert in the Medical Board. The agency pointed out that based on the Medical Board’s findings and other evidence, it concluded that girls died by suicide.
The prosecution case was that the two sisters were found hanging from a raft of their house within a span of two months. While the elder girl was found hanging on January 13, 2017, her sister was found dead in the same manner on March 4, 2017. There were allegations that the girls were raped and murdered.
The Kerala High Court, while ordering a further probe in the case in 2021, had observed that despite major findings in the postmortem report of the victims, none of the responsible persons bestowed any attention to find out what could have been the root cause for the girls’ suicide. The investigation was in cold storage until the unnatural death of the younger girl, it had stated.
According to the CBI, death due to hanging in a suicidal manner cannot be ruled out. “Even though the younger girl was only nine years old and had a height of 129 cm, she could maneuver the ligature material around the point of suspension (rafter) and carry out the act of hanging,” it said.
Chargesheet: Findings in favour of excluding the possibility of homicide
The chargesheet pointed out that the scene of occurrence was a thatched shed with a single room having a tiled roof, a GI sheet wall with a single door, and no windows. The rafter was identified, the point of suspension was localised based on the crime scene photographs, and the measurements were verified.
The maximum distance between the top of the rafter and the tiled roof was 17.5 cm and the minimum distance between the rafter and the slanting part of the tile was only 10 cm (same as the distance mentioned in the sketch submitted by the Village Officer). The point of suspension was about 35 cm away from the nearest support pillar of the rafter, it stated.
As per the chargesheet, the most important doubt in the case was whether the children died by suicide or whether it was a homicide. After the death of the elder girl, her sister disclosed before the police in January, 2017, that she had seen two persons leaving the shed, and when she entered the shed, she found her sister hanging from the rafter. The younger child was later found dead at the same spot.
CBI stated that the Medical Board — comprising an expert in Forensic Medicine and a clinical psychologist — headed by Palakkad DMO was constituted to examine whether it is a suicide or homicide. “Even though the nine-year-old girl only 129 cm tall, the length measured between the sole of her right heel to the tip of her right middle finger with the right upper limb in a fully extended state was 151 cm.
That means, if the girl stands normally on the flat surface of the stepping device (the chair placed on the cot), she can reach the top of the rafter, and even she can extend her fingers beyond that by 2 cm. A girl with an approximate height of 129cm will get the advantage of an additional height of 7 to 9 cm if she lifts her heel and tries to stand on tiptoes,” the chargesheet said.
“With that position, it is not difficult for her to maneuver the ligature material over the rafter through the gap (ranging from 10 to 17.5 cm) between the rafter and tile and bring down one end of the ligature material and subsequently carry out the act of hanging. Hence, the death due to hanging in a suicidal manner cannot be ruled out in this case. The findings observed on the body and the laboratory investigation results are more in favour of excluding the possibility of hanging in a homicidal manner,” stated the chargesheet.