Odisha Crime Branch To Probe Nayagarh Minor Girl Death Case; Minister Elaborates On Police Action

Bhubaneswar: A day after a suicide attempt by a couple of Nayagarh district near the Odisha Assembly over police apathy in the brutal murder of their minor daughter, the minister of state for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra on Wednesday announced the state government’s decision to hand over the case to the Crime Branch.

Making a statement in the House, the minister admitted that the girl was murdered after being kidnapped.

“Circumstantial evidence points towards kidnapping and murder of the girl,” he said.

The minister told the Assembly that Ashok Kumar Sahu of Jadupur village had lodged a missing complaint at Nayagarh Sadar Police Station on July 14 this year.

Elaborating on the police action, he said a case was registered under Sections 363, 364, 302 and 210 of the IPC and the investigation was entrusted to the Sadar Police SI SK Das. The Sadar Police later informed all police stations under its jurisdiction about the incident through the VHF message. While the process began for immediate publication of the case in the Criminal Intelligence Gazette (CIG), a sniffer dog was pressed on duty.

On July 23, the complainant found the decomposed body of his daughter inside a sack near the village pond behind the backyard of his house and informed the police and the IIC of Sadar Police Station Rinarani Sahu arrived at the spot.

“Going by the circumstantial evidence, police came to know that the miscreants had murdered the girl after kidnapping her from near her house. Later, the Sadar Police IIC took over the case from SK Das. On July 24, the scientific team arrived at the spot with a sniffer dog for an on-the-spot investigation,” the minister added.

Mishra further said that the body was later sent through an escort party to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, where the postmortem was conducted by a team of doctors.

“The postmortem report by the doctors revealed that the bone and soft tissue produced was of human origin and appeared to be of a female child of 5-6 years and the time since the death was more than a week. However, the evidence of sexual abuse and the cause of the death could not be determined as the body parts had decomposed,” Mishra said.

He said the body was identified as the daughter of the complainant after his DNA test at the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL) in Bhubaneswar.

Referring to the status of the investigation, the minister said that the police had conducted the polygraph test of four persons while call records and the bank accounts of 34 suspects were examined. Apart from this, police had interrogated 34 suspects, including some people of Jadupur village in connection with the case.

Stating that the state government has entrusted the Crime Branch to probe this case, he hoped that the state investigating agency will take necessary action after a thorough probe.