State hands over Bhandara ‘rape case’ to CBI

Patil said a letter received from the mother of the girls on March 21 did not question police probe. They have not demanded a CBI investigation.

He showed a copy of the letter,which read,“I am satisfied with the investigation by local police. I want police to continue investigations,not hand over to CBI.”

However,this letter contradicts one sent by the mother to leader of opposition in the Assembly Eknath Khadse.

In the letter received by Khadse on March 1,the mother complains against police and demands the case be handed over to CBI.

In the letter to the home minister,she says,“I don’t want people coming here and harassing me to make all kinds of statements.”

The letter in possession of the opposition reads,“The mother is worried about pressure from police to make certain statements.”

Patil said,“The state has consulted best forensic experts to ascertain facts and all three of them have dismissed rape. All three indicated it was a drowning case. Now,whether the girls were pushed into the well or not remains to be established.”

BJP MLA Nana Patole,who raised the matter in the legislature,said,“Bodies recovered from the well were not preserved in cold storage and allowed to decompose. Post-mortem was conducted almost 17 hours later.”

Another BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis wondered why police did not fly the bodies to Nagpur,barely 60 km away,which has latest medical facilities.

The home minister had no answers. He stuck to his statement that delay in conducting post-mortem was because the villagers protested after the incident became public.

“The family members did not come forward to record statements,” he said.

The opposition rejected the explanation.