Kunduli Rape & Suicide: SIT Submits Interim Probe Report To Orissa HC

Cuttack: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday submitted its interim probe report on the much-talked-about rape and suicide of a tribal girl in Koraput district to the Orissa High Court.

“While submitting the interim report in a sealed envelope, the SIT prayed the court to allow it a week’s time to submit the final report. Accepting the prayer, the Court directed the SIT to submit the final report on December 23,” counsel of the victim and human rights lawyer Shrejee Bhavsar told the media.

On November 18, Chief Justice KS Jhaveri had ordered that the High Court will monitor the probe into the rape and subsequent suicide of the minor girl of Musaguda village in Koraput district.

Dismissing the pleas for a CBI probe by the victim’s mother and several others, the Chief Justice had said that the HC will monitor the investigation by the SIT. The team was asked to submit its report to the court after a thorough investigation.

The court had directed the state government to form an SIT comprising senior police officers of the rank of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) to take up the investigation.

Acting on the directive, the state government had formed a three-member SIT team comprising DIG of the South-Western Range, Shefeen Ahamed K, DIG, Southern Range, Satyabrata Bhoi and DIG, Northern Range, Himanshu Lal.

The team had begun its probe by collecting the details from the victim’s mother, aunt and brother in Koraput on December 2.

Earlier on August 3, the High Court had directed the state government to ensure that the investigation into the Kunduli rape and suicide case was completed within four weeks.

Expressing displeasure over the tardy pace of investigation by the State Crime Branch police, the court had proposed a court-monitored SIT probe.

The shocking incident had taken place in Koraput district on October 10, 2017, when the 14-year-old victim, a Class IX student of Government Welfare School at Sorisapadar. was allegedly gang raped by four uniformed personnel in Lanjiguda forest while she was returning from Kunduli market.

She committed suicide at her village Musaguda on January 22, 2019.