Munnar: Even though the police nabbed the accused in the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Vandiperiyar within days, another eight-year-old girl who was found dead in similar circumstances two years ago at Gundumala in the district is yet to get justice.
The culprits, in this case, are yet to be nabbed with the police probe failing to make any headway.
The girl was the daughter of Pandiyammal, of the Gundumala estate upper-division that is 40 km from Munnar. The girl was found dead with a rope around her neck in the bedroom on September 9, 2019. Only her grandmother, who has poor eyesight, was at the home during this time.
Initially, it was suspected that the rope could have accidentally got entangled around her neck while the child was playing. But the post-mortem report pointed at the possibility of murder and also stated that the child had been a victim of repeated sexual abuse.
In this case, there was no complaint from the relatives nor any pressure on the police, leading to a laxity in the investigation. As the kin was not ready to give a complaint, the police had filed a suo motu case based on the post-mortem report.
A posse of police personnel camped at the estate and carried out questioning and evidence gathering, but all these came to an end within some days.