Title - Research scholar’s death: SIT seeks more time

Reports from forensic lab, C-DAC not ready The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the mysterious death of Indu, researcher scholar at the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C) whose body was found in the Periyar at Aluva, informed the Kerala High Court on Wednesday that they need two months’ time to complete the probe. In her report, Additional Director-General of Police B. Sandhya, who heads the SIT, said the reports from the Forensic Science Laboratory and the C-DAC were yet to be obtained. Besides, a test identification parade had to be carried out. Therefore, further investigation could be concluded in two months.The body of Indu was found in the Periyar a few days after she went missing from the Thiruvananthapuram- Mangalore Express train in April 2011.The SIT was constituted on a directive from the High Court which came on a petition filed by N. Krishnan Nair, father of Indu, seeking a directive to the State Police Chief to monitor the investigation being conducted by the crime branch team headed by Superintendent of Police P.N. Unnirajan into the case. K. Subash, an assistant professor at the NIT-C, was arrested by the team on December 29.The SIT head said the investigation revealed that Subash, who was travelling with her on the train, had pushed Indu off the moving train when it was crossing the Aluva bridge.

The report said that Subash wanted to marry Indu. He had forced Indu to send an email to Abhishek, with whom she had fixed her marriage, saying she was raped by somebody. This was done with a view to dissuading Abhishek from getting her married. The mail was sent from the computer of NIT-C. Subash had made arrangements to register his marriage with Indu in Kozhikode on April 25, 2011.

While both of them were travelling on the train to Kozhikode on January 24, he had tried many times to dissuade her from her marriage with Abhishek.

However, she refused to accede his demand. At midnight, he took Indu to the compartment door so that other passengers would not interfere in their arguments. When she again refused his demand, he pushed her off the train which was then crossing a bridge over the Periyar at Aluva. Indu’s head hit the pillars of the bridge and she fell into the river.

The team said that a diary of Indu which contained details of her relationship with Subash had been torn off after the incident. The team had also seized hair clips and hairs, and ladies footwear from the office of Subash at NIT-C. The videos and CD containing her intimacy with Subash were also seized.

The investigation revealed that there was no sexual assault on Indu prior to her death. A witness who happened to perch on a culvert at the end of the Aluva railway bridge stated that he had seen something falling into the water from a compartment door at 2 a.m. He had also seen a man standing near the door overlooking the river.

The High Court had taken the earlier investigation team to task for concluding that it was a case of suicide. The court had said that one month after the investigation, the Superintendent of Police concluded that the death of Indu was a case of suicide even while the investigation was continuing. In a communication to the Director-General of Police, CBCID, he had again said that it was a case of suicide.

Even before a report was received from the Forensic Science Laboratory on the examination of the retrieved data from the laptop, pen drive, etc. and also critical scrutiny of crucial circumstances surrounding the cases which had generated reasonable suspicion over the complicity of Subash in the death of Indu, the investigation officer had concluded that her death was a case of suicide, the court noted.