The Home Department has ordered a Crime Branch (CB) probe into the sensational murder case of a 10-year-old blind girl in Puri in June. The department has directed the CB to appoint a Special Public Prosecutor for effective legal proceedings in the case which triggered protests across the State.
The visually-impaired girl was allegedly raped and brutally murdered and her body was found in a jungle 200 meters from her home in Beladala village under the Puri Sadar police limits on June 6. The girl, who was a student of Class-IV at a State-run school for blind in Bhubaneswar, had gone to her village during the summer vacation.
After receiving a letter from the girl’s father, a rickshaw puller, for a fair inquiry. the Home Department has ordered a CB probe into the case. The CB has been asked to intimate the Chief Minister’s Office regarding the action taken following its inquiry. A day after the incident, the police had arrested Banamali Barik, a cab driver, and also a distant relative of the girl on the allegation of
kidnapping before raping and murdering her. The incident reportedly took place when the girl walked alone outside her home to attend nature’s call in the middle of the night on June 5. Next morning, her body was found in the nearby jungle on the Puri-Konark marine drive road. The culprit hit her private part with a sharp weapon before strangulating her to death.
Expressing his unhappiness over the police inquiry, the girl’s father on November 30 wrote to the Chief Minister demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. His letter stated, “The blood stains on the weapon and other material evidences recovered from the spot were washed out by rain. Also, the police initiated the inquiry without the help of a scientific team. So at this point, I don’t think we would get justice from this kind of probe, and I request you to entrust this matter to CBI,”