Two years after seven-year old Yogita Thakre was found dead on the premises of BJP president Nitin Gadkaris residence,the Nagpur police are seeking closure of the case though it remains marked by a number of contradictions. The case is coming up for hearing here on Wednesday. Yogita was found dead in a car parked on Gadkari Wada on May 19,2009. The initial theory was that the girl,whose mother Vimal Thakre worked as a domestic help in the neighbourhood,had while playing entered the car,got locked in and suffocated. The police initially registered accidental death but later registered a murder case after suspicious details surfaced. Arguing on the basis of a report by the CID (Crime),which was later designated to probe the matter,the police have sought closure of the case saying there was no suspect and that the death was accidental and due to suffocation,and not due to any external factors, the Thakres lawyer Naresh Kolhe told The Indian Express. We will oppose it. there are many discrepancies that need to be addressed. Social activist Jammu Anand said,We have 23 queries against the CID findings and will pose these when the court hears the case. Why was nobody arrested or even suspended when the police themselves called it a case of murder? One discrepancy is that two different vehicles are mentioned in police reports. Yogitas family had identified a white Honda (MH 31 DB-2727),also mentioned in the inquest panchanama. A fingerprint expert from the Crime Branch,however,reportedthat the car was a Fiat Linea (MH 31 CS 2727) this too was parked on the premises that day and that he had found no fingerprints on it. The Honda belonged to Gadkari; the golden Linea was said to belong to his Purti Groups managing director Sudhir Dive. The police seized the Linea,not the Honda. Gadkari and his wife were not present in the house at the time. Gadkari arrived later that night from Mumbai. The panchanama had mentioned that blood had been found to have oozed out of Yogitas nose. The lips had got blackened and scratch marks about 1.5 inches long were seen behind her right ear. Scratch marks were also found on her wrists. Her underwear had bloodstains and blood was inside her private parts too. Scratch marks were also found on her right knee. The (witnesses) feel the victim could have been murdered, the panchanama had said. The postmortem report too had confirmed scratch marks and bloodstains on various parts and ruled the probable cause of death as smothering. Manner of death may be homicidal or accidental, it had said. Police inspector R M Katole of Kotwali police station,too,had said in his report on June 1 that the girl appeared to have been smothered to death by someone who had also possibly tried to destroy the evidence. A case of murder needs to be registered,he had said. However,Katole,too,had mentioned two separate car numbers in the same report,saying she entered MH-31 DB 2727 and died in MH-31 CS 2727. He was later transferred. Saira Merchant,assistant professor of paediatrics at Government Medical College,Nagpur,whose report was cited by Katole,had found that Yogita had congenital heart disease but ruled that this couldnt have led to death after getting trapped in the car. Unexplained questionsinclude how the girl got inside without being noticed by the security personnel,and whether or not she made any effort to attract the attention of people walking around the parking space. If she didnt make that effort,the question is how she got those scratch marks and bloodstains; if she did,it is why no fingerprints were found on the cars body.
