Odisha SIT starts Nayagarh minor girl's murder probe

BHUBANESWAR: The special investigation team (SIT), which was constituted by the state government on November 28 to probe the alleged murder of 5-year-old Amrita Sneha Sahu (Pari) in Nayagarh district in July, began its investigation on Tuesday.
The SIT, led by inspector general of police (IG) Arun Bothra, along with four other officials visited the deceased’s village in Jadupur and interacted with her parents, Ashok Kumar Sahu and Soudamini.The officials also visited the spot from where Pari’s skeletal remains were found.
The Orissa high court-monitored SIT probe assumes significance in the wake of the growing public outrage and political slugfest over the murder of the five-year-old girl. It continues to remain shrouded in mystery as the police in Nayagarh have failed to ascertain the motive and circumstances that led to her death. The identities of the accused have also not been established yet.
“We collected the case details from the Nayagarh Sadar police. We will examine the crime scene and go through the forensic and scientific evidence collected by the local police earlier. Suspects will be interrogated,” an SIT member said.
Pari’s parents and local villagers drew the attention of the SIT members to the alleged police inaction. “We have been alleging that a local man, who is a close aide of Nayagarh MLA and cabinet minister Arun Sahoo, abducted and killed my daughter. The man smuggles human organs. Police have not questioned him under political duress. We urged the SIT officers to trace that man and arrest him,” Ashok Kumar, who along with his wife attempted self-immolation outside the assembly here on November 24 in protest against the alleged police indifference to the case, said.
Their self-immolation bids sparked a statewide furore with opposition BJP demanding Sahoo’s resignation and a CBI probe into the murder. A delegation of BJP leaders met governor Ganeshi Lal here on Tuesday and urged his intervention for Sahoo’s expulsion from the cabinet along with a CBI probe.
It must be noted that Nayagarh Sadar police had on July 14 registered a case of abduction on the basis of a complaint lodged by Ashok, who had alleged that his minor daughter had gone missing. On July 23, the case was turned into a murder case after Sahoo found a decomposed body near his home. A DNA test confirmed the body was that of his daughter. The post-mortem report could not ascertain sexual abuse and the exact cause of the death owing to the decomposition of the body.