Shimla civic agency seeks court help in murder probe
Shimla, April 18 (IANS) A standing committee of the Shimla Municipal Corporation Friday sought the Himachal Pradesh High Court's intervention in the alleged murder of a 20-year-old married woman near this town in February.
In a missive to Acting Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, Social Justice Committee chairman Tikender Panwar said the case may either be transferred to the state crime branch or be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
"The Social Justice Committee with all its members had visited the murder site and submitted a sealed report to you. The basic premise of our finding was that the entire story was cooked up by the police that it was some evil spirit that had entered the victim, because of which she tore her clothes and ran nakedly," said the letter.
It said the second important revelation was that those who have been arrested are undoubtedly related to the murder but there were more people who have not been arrested. It was a flesh trade racket into which the victim was forced to enter against her wishes.
"The new revelation according to the media reports quite unambiguously proves our point as the semen found on the clothes of the victim is not of those who have been arrested but of someone else," it added.
Panwar, who is also the deputy mayor, demanded that the case should be conducted under the supervision of the high court so that the inept functioning of the police in dealing with such cases is checked.
The victim's naked body was found near Naldehra Golf Course, some 22 km from here, Feb 20.
The police have arrested six people and charged them with murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
"The post-mortem report has not indicated any sign of rape or sexual assault," a media report quoting Superintendent of Police Abhishek Dular had said.
But the post-mortem examination confirmed that she died after being crushed by a vehicle.