Probe again,SC panel tells DIG

The investigating officer and superintendent of police (City) have been asked to appear before the commission with the progress of the re-investigation on February 7.

Panel chairman PL Punia said the DIG,district magistrate,circle officer,the then SHO of City Kotwali police station and the scientific officer of Moradabad appeared before the commission with a report of the investigation yesterday.

“I have sought clarifications from the DIG and the DM regarding circumstantial evidence. The police report said the room of the girls,Geeta and Neetu alias Monu,was bolted from the inside and there was no other way to enter the room. They also said the room of their mother Rajjo Devi was bolted from the outside by the girls,said Punia. “But anyone can enter the room of the victims by scaling the wall and jumping into the courtyard from the rear. If the girls had to commit suicide,there was no need to lock their mother in another portion of the house,” Punia added.

Assistant SP Vinod Kumar Singh,who is the investigating officer,has been directed to look into these details,Punia said,adding: “The commission would initiate action against officials if the investigation is not done properly.”

Explaining the reasons behind the re-investigation,Punia said,“The DIG,DM and other officials have been apathetic in handling the matter from the beginning. Their indifferent attitude led to the killing of the girls. Their report stated that the girls had committed suicide and that they had arrested five persons for abetment to suicide.”

Asked about the commission’s directive,DM Subhash Chandra Sharma and DIG Ashok Kumar Singh refused to comment.

The charred bodies of Geeta and Neetu were found inside their house in Kothiwal Nagar in City Kotwali police station area on December 18. A case of murder was registered the next day on a complaint by their mother Rajjo Devi.

The police said the girls had committed suicide because they could not bear neighbours’ taunts after their brothers were booked for murder and dacoity. Five of the neighbours were arrested for abetment to suicide.