The cause of the death of Nanditha, the 14-year-old girl from Thirthahalli, is yet to be disclosed by the authorities concerned.
Facts that are hindering the investigation are that the police have not recorded the girl’s dying declaration and that the doctor at the Thirthahalli hospital, where she was treated initially, had failed to inform the police.
Also, highly placed sources said that the girl came to Anandagiri Hill - where two women (Jayamma and Chandramma) found her - in an autorickshaw and not in a car. Three contradictory statements by Krishnappa, Nanditha’s father, deepen the death mystery.
Instance 1: Raveendra, son of Chandramma, told Deccan Herald, “I tried to call up the girl’s father several times to inform him about the incident. But he did not pick up the phone. Later, I tried to call up the mother of the girl, she also did not answer. At last, another person and I went to his grocery shop at Balebailu after collecting the address from the girl and informed him about the incident.”
But the father had told mediapersons, “I spoke to Raveendra over the phone and asked him to come to Balebailu as I did not know the house at Tudaki near Anandagiri Hill on the outskirts of the town.”
Instance 2: When asked about the girl’s section and subjects, the father said her section was ‘F’ in government high school and she had chosen Sanskrit as the first language. But sources in the high school said she was in ‘E’ section and she had opted for Kannada as first language.
Instance 3: The father had said that he had not told doctors anything about the incident at Anandagiri Hill. “We told them that she complained of vomiting. However, my daughter had told the doctor at Jayachamarajendra Hospital in the town that she was forced to consume some poisonous substance by the three-member group, at the time of discharge, in my absence. Even we were not sure whether it was really poisonous or not.” Earlier, he had said she was forced to consume poison.
The investigation by the CID now has to discover whether it was the doctors’ inefficiency that claimed the life of the girl.
Krishnappa said, “This case is based on statements. We have not altered the statements. We have told police whatever she told us. Suppose, we make contradictory statements, they will bounce back on us. So, the statements are true.” Superintendent of Police Kaushlendra Kumar said that cases had been registered under Sections 302 (murder), 354 (sexual harassment) and 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC and under Pocso Act, 2012, on October 31.
