Pramesh S Jain & Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
I
n a rarest of rare case,the Mandya district police completed the investigations in a record time to file Chargesheet within 14 days in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl by her 51-year-old tuition teacher in Malavalli on October 11.
Going by the fast forward mode and without bypassing any procedure,the police hoped that if everything went well the accused Kantharaju, would be convicted by court within six months to one year, Additional Director General of Police ( Law and Order) Alok Kumar,told media persons.
The incident took place in Malavalli Taluk of Mandya district on October 11 when the accused, Kantharaju,51,as per the plan called the minor girl on the pretext of taking a tuition class,sexually assaulted her,strangled her and threw the body in a sump of an under constructed house close to his house .
“Law requires police to finalise such cases within 60 days but kudos to team Mandya who have done it in 14 days.Let’s work for speedy trial and conviction of the accused of this ghastly incident but it was a record time ,”Praveen Sood,Director General and Inspector General of Police tweeted.
Mandya superintendent of police N Yatish said, “The Malavalli police submitted a 683-page charge sheet and completed the statement of four witnesses and gathered all the evidence needed .
The charge sheet was subjected to scrutiny by three public prosecutors who have had vast experience in handling the case.
The case gained importance as even Chief Minister personally started supervising the development on day to day basis .
The appointment of Special public prosecutor for the case is going to happen any time soon,after which the trail will commence soon,Mr.Kumar added .
The case has been registered against the accused under Sections 302 (murder),201 (destruction of evidence),376 (rape) and 326 (assault with weapons) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act,” Yatish said.
Investigations revealed that it was a pre-medidated case and Kantharaju had bought a plastic rope from a shop in Mysore to eliminate the girl,in case anything goes wrong.
As per the plan he offered the victim chocolate and took her to the isolated under construction building where he raped her before strangulating her to death .
He removed the clothes and dumped the body in a sump,before returning home .
Analysis of the call record details from the accused phone revealed that a day before the incident,the accused had called the victim to come to tution at 11 am .
This is a clinching evidence for the case retrieved from the CDR,as the accused initially feigned ignorance when the parents of the victim contacted him to know whether the girl had come to his house.
The accused had even took the parents to a near-by shop to check the CCTV footage knowing very well that the girl had come from to his house from other by-lane.
Kantharaju had even joined the search party to find the girl and was trying to put the entire blame on Nagaraju,owner of the under construction house .This is to create an alibi and to escape from the crime,Aok Kumar, said.
However,based on the suspicion the police conducted a background check on the accused and analyzed the CDR to nail him.
The police also obtained the statement of the shop owner from Mysuru from where Kantharaju had purchased the plastic rope to strangle the girl to death.
Kantharaju has a post graduate degree in anthropology and was pursuing PhD.
He quit his research to start working in a private company and to started a coaching centre.The accused had separated from his wife six years ago but was in touch with his two daughters,he said.
Our target was to file charge sheet within 10 days but it was prolonged due to series of holidays, Alok Kumar, said .
Generally all the sensitive cases,senior police officials monitor from head quarters,but this time the entire force was behind this case with celerity to ensure deterrent effect and corporal punishment.
Finally DG-IGP,Praveen Sood has appreciated ADGP Law and order,Alok Kumar,IGP,Praveen Madhukar Pawar,SP,Mandya,Yatish N,other officers as Venugopal,Lakshminarayan,and whole crime and technical FSL team who were part of this record time investigation to file Chargesheet against the accused within 14 days a special reward will be given to whole team he added.
