The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Police still clueless in some of the key murder cases

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 27, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Police still clueless in some of the key murder cases

At least in four incidents of double murder the police have closed the cases and filed the `C' report in court, writes K.V. Subramanya

JUSTICE SEEMS to be a far cry for the families of several murder victims if one goes by the adage "Justice delayed is justice denied."

Though years have passed, the police have neither established the motive behind the killing nor arrested the assailants in more than 20 important murder cases. Investigations have reached a dead end in these cases, including several double murders, reported from the city during the past few years.

At least in four incidents of double murder reported from Indiranagar, Ashoknagar, Vijayanagar and Madivala police station limits, the police have closed the cases and filed the "C" report in the court. Normally, the police file the "C" report and close the case when the culprits are not traced for long.

According to the police, they have filed "C" reports in the twin murder of Sadananda Shetty and his friend Vinod in Indiranagar (December 1999), Meena Rasquinha and domestic help Prema Mary in Ashoknagar (May 2001), Shankaraiah and his daughter-in-law Padmaja in Vijayanagar (August 2001) and Nirmala and her daughter Rajeshwari in Madivala (August 2002).

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) is still investigating the murder of a software engineer Jawahar Panchagatti and his wife Anu, which took place in Girinagar police station limits in November 2001.

While the family members of the some victims have lost hopes of the assailants being brought to book, the police, who come out with many reasons for not solving the murders, say that lack of cooperation from the family members of the victims is the main reason for the investigations getting delayed.

The police say that in any murder case the information provided by the relatives of the victim plays a vital role in arresting the suspects. "It is the victim's family members who normally know more about the person than others. With regard to some of the cases, the family members are not forthcoming," a police official says.

Referring to a sensational murder that was reported from Jayanagar subdivision three years ago, the police official said that though the family members were aware of the assailant they were not revealing his identity. "A close relative of the victim even threatened to commit suicide if we continued the investigation," he said.

In a double murder that was reported four years ago from the South Division, the family of the victims had "dodged" the police during interrogation, he said.

If the victims were into any illegal or immoral activities, their relatives fear that the family's reputation would be damaged if the truth came out. In some cases, the relatives themselves could be involved in the crime. So, they do not cooperate with the police, the official said.

Another important reason for the delay in cracking the murders is that in most of the cases, the officials who were investigating the case have been transferred. Their successors are not even aware of facts of the case, the official said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail