JOIN USPolice not fair in Nanditha's death probe, says father
The father of 14-year-old schoolgirl Nanditha, who died under mysterious circumstances in Shivamogga district recently, on Saturday said that his daughter had identified one of her kidnappers but the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had not arrested the accused.
Nanditha's father T G Krishnappa, who runs a grocery store in Balebail near Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district, told a press conference here that he had given the name of the accused to CID officers.
“My daughter was found by an elderly woman relative, Kamalamma, on October 29 noon, crying at the Anandagiri Hills. She took her home and I picked up Nanditha and brought her home at around 12.30 pm. On enquiring, Nanditha told us that three men had abducted her on her way to school in the morning. She said one of them was Sohan, who works at a cloth store in Thirthahalli but used to visit Balebail often to drop one of his relatives. On the day of the incident, Sohan was driving the car. He stopped the car to chat with her, when two others who came from behind, gagged and bundled her into the car. My daughter told me that after forcing her to drink water mixed with some sedative, the trio had a verbal altercation and finally pushed her from the top of the hillock. The CID police have detained one accused but have not formalised the arrest,” Krishnappa said.
He said his family decided not to file a complaint on October 29 since they were convinced that there was only an attempt to rape. “We decided not to file the complaint fearing for her future and unsavoury publicity. On that day, my daughter was active and she was playing with her younger sister. She had dinner and it was only late in the night that she complained of pain in the abdomen and also started vomiting. We took her to primary health centre in Thirthahalli and next day she was referred to McGann Hospital in Shivamogga. In Thirthahalli, Nanditha told a doctor how she was kidnapped by three men and that they forced her to drink something.” he said.
Refuting police claim that a suicide note was found, Krishnappa said that there was no such note in Nanditha’s school bag. “On 29 itself, we had checked her school bag and we did not find any note. After the police took up the case, a policemen came home saying IGP wanted to see me. When I went there they showed me a note which was not written by my daughter. In the note, my younger daughter's name has been first written and then erased to write ‘daughter’. Why would Nanditha say that we must educate our younger daughter who is just 11-month-old,” Krishnappa questioned.
On the political blame game which had overtaken the case, Krishnappa said all he wanted was punishment for the culprits. “I am not affiliated to any political party. I don’t want any other child to suffer like this. The police investigation so far has not been satisfactory.”