Amidst allegations that the ruling CPI(M) is trying to derail the probe into the sensational case pertaining to the gangrape of a 34-year-old woman in Thrissur district in which the main accused is a Marxist councilor in Wadakanchery Municipality, PN Jayanthan, the police investigating the incident are reportedly preparing to close the case claiming lack of evidence.
According to sources in the Kerala Police, the investigating team has hit a hard wall as far as the probe is concerned as all efforts to identify the building where the woman was subjected to the brutal gang-rape have failed. Though the victim herself was taken to the place where she said she was gang-raped almost 30 months back, she could not identify the house, they said.
The woman, a mother of two, had given her statement as per Section 164 of the CrPC before a magistrate in Thrissur in relation to her complaint but the police said they had not been able to collect any corroborating evidences. Also, there was no hope of getting any scientific evidence since two-and-a-half years have passed since the incident, they added.
The police are now saying that Jayanthan and the other three accused may find ways to get bail from the court if they are arrested without sufficient evidences. The accused have not yet been called to the police station for questioning due to the alleged lack of evidence. The case can proceed effectively only if there is an intervention by the court, according to the police.
As per the disclosure the victim herself had made to newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram on November 3 with the assistance of cine dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi, Jayanthan (28), his brother Jithesh (26) and their friends Bineesh (25) and Shibu (27) — all her family friends — had raped her at a place some nine kilometers south of Thrissur city in April, 2014.
The victim had lodged a complaint with the police over the incident in August this year but the police had allegedly derailed it and the officer in charge of the probe, a Circle Inspector of police, had behaved with her in obscene manner. She said she was forced to withdraw her complaint later under threats to her life and that of her husband from Jayanthan and associates.
After the victim’s press conference early this month, the CPI(M) suspended Jayanthan and Bineesh from the party. However, the party has not so far asked Jayanthan, allegedly a local loan shark and real estate businessman, to step down as councilor in the Wadakanchery Municipality and this has led to a series of protests staged by the Congress and the BJP.
CPI(M)’s Thrissur district secretary K Radhakrishnan, former State minister and former Assembly Speaker, who announced the suspension of Jayanthan and Bineesh from the party, had repeatedly disclosed the name of the victim in public. Radhakrishnan, who surprisingly justified his action, is now facing legal action for this.
Bhagyalakshmi, who has been fighting for the victim and counseling her for the past several weeks, said that she still believed that the victim would get justice. “I can’t understand how the police could arrive at such a conclusion with just 20 days of investigation in such a complex case. I don’t trust the police team which is handling the case currently,” she said.
A police team headed by a woman official, Assistant Superintendent of Police G Poonkuzhali, is presently looking into the case and the investigation is being supervised by another woman official, Additional DGP B Sandhya. The Circle Inspector of Police accused of behaving obscenely with the victim has been suspended from service.