BHUBANESWAR: A day after a 15-year-old girl was allegedly set afire by a group of miscreants in Balanga area of Puri district, she was on Sunday airlifted from AIIMS-Bhubaneswar to AIIMS-Delhi for better treatment.
“The patient with 75 per cent burns was airlifted from Bhubaneswar and admitted to the hospital at 4.20 pm. She is currently admitted to the ICU in the Burns and Plastic Surgery block. Her condition is critical. She is on oxygen support and a team of doctors is closely monitoring her condition,” the medical cell of AIIMS-New Delhi said in the evening.
Bhubaneswar police had created a green corridor for the smooth transit of the victim in an advanced life-support ambulance from AIIMS here to Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA).
Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan met the family members of the victim at the hospital in Delhi and assured them all support from the government.
Earlier in the day, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar executive director Dr Ashutosh Biswas told mediapersons that the girl was shifted to AIIMS-Delhi for better treatment. Some of the treating doctors accompanied her to Delhi along with her family members.
Meanwhile, DGP YB Khurania, Central Range IG S Praveen Kumar and Puri in-charge SP Pinak Mishra visited Bhargavi river bed where the incident allegedly took place. “The investigation is continuing and two specialised teams of State Forensic Science Laboratory, and forensic/medicine of AIIMS visited the spot today for probe,” Khurania told the mediapersons.
He said physical and scientific evidences were collected from the spot. “We have certain clues and more information is being collected related to the case. Further investigation is underway,” the DGP said.
Sources said as of now investigation is being thoroughly carried out based on the victim’s statement but police are also looking into all possible angles. The minor girl was in trauma when her statement was recorded, they said.
The victim, a school dropout, revealed that she was on the way to give some books to her friend when three youths abducted her and used a chloroform-like substance to make her unconscious and then set her on fire. She mentioned three different names of her friend but no such girl with those names could be found in the village, said police sources.
Those privy to the investigation said police are also looking into the minutest possibility of it being a case of suicide too. “Similar brands of matchboxes and the two water bottles containing kerosene which were recovered from the spot were found in her house as well. A bag of a garments shop located in Gop was found on the spot and the same shop’s bag was also found in her house,” they added.
Police are trying to stitch all the pieces together to arrive at a concrete conclusion. So far, they have neither received any help from the CCTV cameras installed in the nearby areas nor any eyewitnesses who noticed the three suspects before or after the crime.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties continued to hold protests over the incident for the second consecutive day on Sunday. Scores of BJD workers held demonstrations at Balanga police station and clashed with the cops there.