BHUBANESWAR: A day after a couple from Nayagarh attempted self-immolation outside the State Assembly demanding justice for their dead daughter, the government on Wednesday admitted that the five-year-old child was kidnapped and murdered and handed over the case to the Crime Branch.
The announcement of a Crime Branch probe was made by Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra in the Assembly .Making his statement in the House, the Minister said, the victim’s father had lodged a complaint after the girl went missing on July 14, 2020. A case was registered on the same day. With the help of VHF waves and sniffer dogs, the skeletal remains of the victim packed in a bag were traced to the backyard of her house on July 23.
“Circumstantial evidence points out that the minor girl was kidnapped and murdered. The remains of the body were then sent to Cuttack SCB for postmortem which revealed that the girl was 5 to 6 year old but there was no evidence to prove that she was raped before being murdered. Later, a DNA test was also conducted to confirm that the victim is the daughter of the complainant,” the Minister said.
In the course of the investigation, police have so far interrogated 34 persons. This apart, lie detector (polygraph) test was conducted on four persons to extract more details, he said, adding that Nayagarh SDPO is currently investigating the matter.
As the issue rocked the Assembly with the Opposition demanding a statement from the Chief Minister, Speaker SN Patro directed the Minister of State for Home to give a statement in the House.However, the Opposition BJP and Congress are not happy with the CB probe as the parents of the victim have been pointing fingers at Minister Arun Sahoo.Leader of Opposition Pradipta Naik said that there is every chance of the government influencing the investigation as a Cabinet Minister has been dragged into the case.
“We don’t expect a fair probe as the Home Minister did not mention anything about the involvement of the Minister Sahoo in his statement,” Naik said and demanded that the investigation should be handed over to an independent agency.
Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati echoed similar views. “In the last 20 years, I have never seen a fair probe by the State police in cases where ministers or members of the ruling party are involved. The family of the victim will get justice if the case is investigated by agencies independent of the State government”, he said.
On the other hand, the BJP Mahila Morcha took out a protest rally from party’s State headquarters to Master Canteen demanding immediate arrest of the accused and resignation of Minister Arun Sahoo.
Alleging that the prime accused is being shielded by the minister, State Mahila Morcha president Smruti Pattanaik said Nayagarh police is not taking action against the accused.