KOCHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The
high court has ordered a crime branch probe into the unnatural death of a 14-year-old after his father, a senior civil police officer, expressed distrust with the investigation conducted by local police and sought a
CBI probe.
Justice K Abraham Mathew ordered for a crime branch probe by an officer not below the rank of a DSP after considering a petition filed by the boy's father Shaji Y, who is residing at Central Police Housing Complex at Kombara in Kochi.
On December 11, 2013, the boy was found hanging in the staff quarters where he lived with his father and mother. After probing the case registered as unnatural death, local police reached the conclusion that it was a suicide.
Approaching the high court through advocate C S Manu, the father alleged that the investigation has not been honest and efficient and demanded a CBI probe. Police only took into custody the
dhoti that was used for hanging. Cellophane was not used to determine the nature of the 'ligature', the father alleged.
He also pointed out that while the boy's height was shown as 160 centimetres in the inquest report and postmortem certificate, his height is shown as 172 centimetres in the certificate issued by his school. This discrepancy has not been explained. Besides, photographs of place of occurrence and the body of the deceased are also not available now, the father contended.
After noticing these aspects, the high court said in the judgment that it is only proper that the investigation is entrusted to another police officer. The court then ordered home department secretary and state police chief to issue orders for a crime branch probe in the case within one month.
In a petition filed in the high court, the father had stated that on the day of his death the boy had even called up his friends to discuss about the dress to be worn and the songs to be sung at the school excursion. He had even paid cash for the trip to Ooty. The probe by local police was scuttled by some police officers under the influence of the culprits who have strong political connections, he had alleged.
Y M Ansary, brother-in-law of the father and a member of CPM, had told TOI earlier, "It is a clear case of murder of a lively child at his residence in the police quarters." It is a clear case of homicide and the boy was strangled with a wet towel after a scuffle with his mother and her paramour, probably because the child had found out about their illicit relationship, Ansary had stated. Selfie photos seized from her mobile phone was clear proof of her illicit relationship, he had said.
