Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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| EGS minister Nitin Raut, SP Aarti Singh and others observing the well. |
- Satisfied with probe, CBI refuses to take up case again
By Dheeraj Fartode
A REPORT submitted by a special team of doctors has ruled out possibility of homicide in the death of three minor sisters in the sensational Murmadi case. The bodies were found in a well at Murmadi village of Bhandara district under mysterious circumstances on February 16 this year.
The report is likely to put a full-stop on police investigation into the case. Moreover, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also refused to take up the case saying investigation done by Bhandara Police were thorough and sufficient.
The special team, consisting five doctors from Mumbai and a forensic expert, was constituted by Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) following a request from State Police Department to probe into the case.
The team visited the spot at Murmadi in August and also studied medical records. The study has ruled out possibility of murder or sexual assault on the three girls. Special Inspector General of Police (Nagpur range) Rajinder Singh confirmed with ‘The Hitavada’ about the submission of the report. However, he denied to comment on the findings.
Asked about State Government’s move to hand over the investigation to CBI, Singh said CBI had refused to take up the case. A letter in this regard has been received by the State. The letter states, “Bhandara police have done deep investigation in all possible angles and nothing remains to investigated in the case.”
The three girls - aged 11, nine and six - had gone missing on February 14 from their home in Murmadi village in Lakhni tehsil of Bhandara district after finishing school. Their grandfather had lodged a police complaint the same day after the girls’ classmates brought back only the school bags of the two younger sisters. Their bodies were found later in a well near the village.
Autopsy report by doctors of Bhandara Government Hospital stated that the girls were raped and murdered.
Special IG Rajinder Singh had also told newspersons “the findings of the post-mortem report suggested that there was sexual assault on all three girls. But the report is not clear on how they were killed.” The case attracted focus of national and international media as the incident had occurred just two months after Delhi gang-rape case.
Following visits of high profile political leaders and NGOs to Murmadi the local people launched a protest demanding arrest of the accused. Tension ran high in Bhandara district and politicians had also given a bandh call. National Highway no 6 was blocked for six hours by the villagers.
Angry protest by the villagers forced Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to tell the Parliament that Prakash Mude, the inspector in-charge of the station, had been suspended due to dereliction of duty. Bhandara Police had investigated the case from various angles including revenge, property and lust and interrogated over 500 people. Ten special teams with experts from across the state were sent to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and other neighbouring states.
The cops also investigated mobile phone location of all villagers and mobile phones, which had come under towers located near Murmadi village. However, a forensic report had denied any angle of murder and sexual assault in the case. The report found no male DNA on the girls’ bodies.
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