Bhiwani playschool teacher may have died by suicide, says police

The recovery of the body sparked an outrage. Her family refused to claim the body, saying they will not cremate her till the time the accused are arrested and punished. The police had lodged a murder case against unidentified persons. On Monday, protest march were held in Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad, and Jind.

The case, however, took a turn later in the day with police receiving the forensic report on the viscera samples.

Bhiwani Superintendent of Police Sumit Kumar told The Indian Express that an evidence has emerged of the woman visiting an insecticide shop. “There is a record in the register of the seller that the woman bought a specific quantity of the insecticide and paid Rs 600 for it. The next part of the investigation was whether the insecticide was consumed or not. We sent viscera samples to the Forensic Scientific Laboratory in Sunaria. The presence of insecticide has been confirmed in the body,” the officer said.

A handwritten “note” too emerged Monday. A senior officer, part of the investigating team, said that the note was recovered from a bag found near the body on August 13 and the family members knew about it. “The handwriting experts have confirmed that it was written by the woman,” the officer said.

“There is self-purchase of insecticide, there is a suicide note, and there is poison in the body,” the Bhiwani SP told reporters.

Earlier, two autopsies, one of which was done at PGIMS in Rohtak, had unravelled the mystery behind the lacerations on the woman’s face, which, the family members had claimed, was a slit mark.

“In the first post-mortem report, the doctor mentioned that the wounds are lacerated wounds with a gnawing effect. Gnawing is when a scavenger eats the body. The doctor has very clearly mentioned that these are the scavenging animal bites, and he has used the word gnawing effect… a portion of the neck was missing. Eyes were not there, face skin was not there. However, no vital organ below the neck is missing,” the SP said.

Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, meanwhile, said that the investigation into the case should be handed over to CBI, as is being demanded by the family “as the role of Haryana government and police” in the matter has been “negligent and irresponsible” till now.

“An unfortunate attempt is being made to prove the whole case as a suicide and the criminals who carried out this brutal crime are still roaming free. They should be arrested as soon as possible and given the harshest punishment,” Hooda said.

The woman, who had scored 86% in Class 12 board exams, had taken up the teaching job at a playschool to support her family financially, a former sarpanch of her native village told The Indian Express. The woman’s father owns an acre of land and earns around Rs 10,000 per month working for a contractor.

According to her family, on August 11, the woman left home to visit a college to inquire about admission to nursing course. When she didn’t return by evening, her father contacted the police via Dial-112, Haryana’s emergency response system. The family alleges that police accompanied them to the said college but only questioned three intoxicated men who claimed they hadn’t seen the woman and that the college had closed at 1 pm.

After the body was found on August 13, her father told the media, “The police personnel told me that if my daughter has gone missing, she must have eloped and she will come back in two days”.

The woman’s uncle had alleged serious lapses in the postmortem examination. The family launched an indefinite dharna, with Opposition leaders continuing to visit the protest site.

With Opposition parties attacking the BJP government, Chief Minister Saini said he was receiving minute-by-minute updates from the police, and that several people were being interrogated in connection with the case.

“She is our daughter. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure justice for her and her family,” saini said, adding the police are conducting a “thorough and impartial investigation,” and that “strict action will be taken against the culprits as soon as the investigation report is finalised.”

Amid the protests, the Haryana government on Friday appointed Sumit Kumar as Bhiwani SP, while transferring out Manbir Singh. It also suspended Loharu police station in-charge Ashok, Assistant Sub-Inspector Shakuntala, Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) team ASI Anoop, Constable Pawan, and Special Police Officer (SPO) Dharmendra.

Cabinet Minister Shruti Choudhry had visited the dharna venue, assuring the victim’s family that “the state government and the administration stand by them.” —With PTI