Vandiperiyar rape-murder case: Govt suspends probe officer, seeks report on allegations against him

Thodupuzha: The Kerala government on Thursday issued an order suspending the key official who probed the sensational Vandiperiyar minor rape and murder case. The action is against Vazhakulam Police Station official TD Sunil Kumar. 

The suspension order was issued by Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) M R Ajithkumar. The move comes over the court’s remarks about the official’s conduct. The government order issued has directed the Additional Superintend of Police (Ernakulam Rural) to probe the allegations against the official. The report on the same should be submitted within two months, it noted. 

Earlier today, UDF-led opposition attacked the ruling Left government over the matter. UDF in the state assembly alleged that the Left government has been deliberately trying to protect the accused in the case which also led to his acquittal by the trial court.

In an adjournment motion seeking suspension of the scheduled business of the House, the opposition accused the state government of showing "carelessness" and "indifference" towards the case in view of the accused's affiliation to the Left front. Denying the allegations in the motion and rejecting the opposition's demand to suspend the scheduled business of the House, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the police lodged a case in time and carried out an investigation into the matter. 

Later, Speaker A N Shamseer ruled that the motion to suspend the scheduled business of the House to discuss the matter was rejected. Subsequently, the opposition staged a walkout from the House in protest against the government's alleged "lackadaisical" approach towards the case and efforts to protect the accused right from the beginning. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan, in his walkout speech, said the government should actually order a reinvestigation of the case. He said that there was no point in going on appeal in the High Court with the same evidence which was there before the trial court.

The Fast Track Special Court for the trial of offences under the POCSO Act acquitted the accused -- Arjun -- saying "the prosecution failed to establish all the circumstances which are consistent with the guilt of the accused and inconsistent with his innocence."

The trial court had said that in the instant case, the investigating officer (IO) adopted a "lethargic attitude" throughout the investigation. It had also said that the "unscientific way of collecting evidence without showing the shrewdness and intelligence reasonably expected from an investigating officer, seriously affected the prompt and timely collection of evidence in the case."

The girl was found hanging inside her house on June 30, 2021, when her parents went out to work in a nearby plantation.

Police had initially registered a case of unnatural death but the autopsy report confirmed that the child was raped before she was hanged. 

With PTI inputs