In a shocking revelation in connection with the sexual assault and murder of five-year-old girl Pari at Jadupur village in Nayagarh district, IPS officer Arun Bothra, head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the case, on Thursday said that arrested accused Saroj Sethy’s family was aware of the crime committed by him.
However, it is being ascertained by the investigators as to when his family came to know about his act, said Bothra, who was present at Jadupur, where the crime scene was recreated by Saroj. Clearing the air over the alleged missing of bones of the girl’s recovered body, Bothra said some bones were given to the doctors for the DNA test to ascertain the identity of the decomposed body. The bones have been preserved, he said.
Saroj had used a towel to wipe off the girl’s blood oozing from her nose after strangling her to death. The towel has been retrieved and sent to laboratory for test. Though Saroj had washed the towel several times, some stain prevailed, said Bothra, adding that the towel and leggings of the girl recovered from the village pond are major evidences in the case.Saroj had committed the murder alone. However, a possible involvement of others in disposing of the body is being ascertained, he said.
In another interesting revelation, Bothra said that before the commencement of the probe by the SIT, Saroj had collected information about him like his IPS career and background through Google search. He was also observing the activities of the investigators in the village from the roof of his house and keeping himself updated about the progress in case by watching news on TV. Meanwhile, the Orissa High Court on Thursday directed SIT to submit charge-sheet in Pari case after it submitted a status report detailing investigations made so far in a sealed cover.