Two days after the Jharkhand police floated the ‘suicide theory’ in the Puja Bharti case, the family members of the victim have dismissed the claims, reported The Times of India. The case pertains to the unnatural death of a 22-year-old medical student named Puja Bharti Purve whose body was recovered from Patratu Dam near Ranchi on January 12.
While dismissing the police findings, Puja’s father Awadh Bihari Purve asked, “If (the) police believe that she drowned herself after tying her hands and legs on her own, then why did the police claimed earlier that they were close to cracking the ‘murder mystery’?” He further emphasised that the investigative team had been behaving unprofessionally and demanded the intervention of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The demands for a CBI investigation has gained momentum with the intervention of several political and social organisations on Monday. Furthermore, Puja’s cousin, Vidyanand Punta rejected the claim that the victim was under stress. “She was in the extremely joyous mood while talking to her mother a few hours before her death,” he added.
Police claims ‘suicide’, unable to trace the victim’s cell phone
The comments of the family members came after Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) AV Homkar held a press conference on Saturday and ruled Puja’s death as a case of suicide. The DIG had also claimed that the victim had tied herself up using different ropes, prior to committing suicide. The cops have not been able to ascertain how Puja Bharti reached Patratu from Ranchi, the mode of transportation used or the whereabouts of her cell phone. As such, the police is conducting a further probe to unearth more details of the intriguing case.
Autopsy report revealed that Puja Bharti died of drowning
The autopsy, conducted under the supervision of a three-member medical board, had earlier confirmed that Puja died due to drowning. During the post-mortem, the doctors did not find injury marks on her body or private parts. The police had also sent the victim’s undergarments, vaginal swab, nail clippers, ropes and other items to the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFL) to probe the angle of rape, as per a report in Jagran.
