Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Chathannoor: The Centre is ready to conduct a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the brutal rape and murder of a 30-year-old Law student in Ernakulam district and the guilty will be punished, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.
"CBI probe should be held into the murder. As the country's Home Minister, I assure you that as soon as we get a recommendation (in this regard) from the state government, we are prepared to conduct a CBI probe," Singh, who began electioneering for the May 16 Assembly polls in Kerala, said at a public meeting, about 16 km from Kollam city.
The Home Minister said the guilty will be brought to book.
"I assure you that the guilty shall be punished," he said.
The Home Minister's remarks assume significance with the investigation by Kerala police not making much headway even days after the incident.
The Dalit woman, who hailed from a poor family, was raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house at nearby Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district on April 28.
The shocking incident had its echo in Parliament with members demanding "exemplary punishment" for the culprits besides triggering widespread protests across the state.
Flaying Communist Party of India-Marxist(CPI-M) veteran V S Achutanandan for not disclosing the name of the VIP in the sensational Killiroor and Kaviyoor sex scandals as "assured" by him, Singh said his credibility in kerala politics had come to an end as he failed to keep his promise.
"I want to ask you...you had in 2006 Assembly elections said in the two big cases of Kiliroor and Kaviyoor...You had said when you will become chief minister, you will disclose the name of the VIP.
"What you said you didn't do, your credibility in Kerala politics has come to an end," Singh said at the meeting. The two sex scandals had rocked the state in 2003 after young girls were physically abused on the pretext of giving them roles in television serials. They were allegations that some influential persons were involved in the two cases.
Meanwhile, Kerala Police on Friday said the incident appears to be a "planned one" and its probe has entered a "crucial stage".
"Investigation is going through a crucial stage. It appears to be a planned murder and not an un-premeditated," Additional Director General of Police K Padmakumar, who is supervising the probe by the Special Investigation Team comprising experts from the state police, told reporters.
He said the investigation is on the "right track", but refused to say about the arrest of the culprits.
Police, which continued questioning people, including some neighbours, a bus driver and his assistant, to get a lead in the case, said it was verifying the inputs received from various persons.
Over 125 people have been questioned in connection with the rape and brutal murder.
Earlier, state police chief T P Senkumar had rejected suggestions that there were many major lapses by the force initially which have impacted the probe.
After holding meeting with the top cops supervising the case at nearby Perumbavoor on Thursday evening, Senkumar had said "a scientific, professional investigation" is progressing in the case, but admitted that they could not reach a "sudden detection”.
"We are doing a professional work. Many experts in the police team have been called in to assist the probe. We are taking all types of inputs. Scientific, professional investigation is on. We have not reached a sudden detection but the probe is in progress," he told reporters.
The top police officer said there were "not much lapses" from the local police in the initial stage of the investigation.
