Police in a hurry to close Pooja murder case

Lucknow: In the brutal rape and murder of a class 12 girl Pooja (name changed), whose body was found not far from the chief minister’s official residence in the state capital on Monday, remains unsolved. Lucknow police is trying to portray the two rickshaw-pullers as rapists and killers. According to the police, the case has almost been solved. They want to close the case by formally charging rickshaw-pullers Sadguru and Dipu with the heinous crime.

The police Circle Officer who was in-charge of Mohanlalganj rape case, in which his findings remain suspect, has also been roped in for investigating this case. All of a sudden, after his joining the probe team, all the evidences are pointing towards the two rickshaw-pullers. The fear is that in their hurry to solve the case, the police might leave several questions unanswered.

About the murder case:

• Pooja stepped out of her home to attend her class 12 science practical examination at around 0800 hours on Feburay 10 last.
• She did not reach her school and her school teacher informed her parents about Pooja's absence.
• Unable to locate her, Pooja's parents filed an FIR at Jankipuram police station.
• The last location of her mobile was found near Park Road.
• She went missing for five days and her body was found on Monday.

February 11

• Police were not able to trace the mobile location and remained clueless.
• Girl’s parents also searched for her but they also came back home clueless.

February 14

• Constant surveillance of her mobile yielded result.
• It led the police to Ramnagar area of Haidergarh, in Barabanki district, where they found the mobile being used by Sadguru's wife.
• She told the police that her husband had given her the mobile.
• Sadguru told the police that he got the mobile from Dipu.
• Dipu was arrested and interrogated.
• Both Sadguru and Dipu initially said that they found the mobile near the girl's body.

February 15

• In the morning, police found girl’s dead body and identified her as Pooja of Jankipuram.
• Late evening the body was sent for post-mortem.
• According to the post-mortem report, she was gang raped and some heavy object was inserted inside her private part due to which she died,
• After the post-mortem, the rickshaw pullers were sent for the medico legal test.

February 16

• Police interrogated Sadguru and Dipu.
• Not convinced with their answers, their interrogation continued.
• The two caddies were then picked up and interrogated.
• Police again went to the spot to search for the girl’s bag and bicycle.
• Neither has been found till now.

February 17

• Sadguru and Dipu were arrested for concealing evidence and twisting their statements.
• They have been taken in police remand for further interrogation.

Change in statements:

• On February 11, Sadguru said that he found the girl’s mobile in the morning when he had gone to the spot for morning ablutions.
• But Dipu said he took the mobile from the victim’s body which was hanging from a tree.
• After being confronted with their call log details, both the accused accepted that they got the mobile on February 10.
• On February 16, they said that “we saw her hanging from the tree, she was looking beautiful. That’s why we untied her hands.
• Police officials investigating the case said that Sadguru and Dipu raped the girl for two days even after her death.
• Based on their subsequent statement, police arrested the two caddies. Both the caddies and the rickshaw-pullers claimed the other spotted the girl's body first.

CCTV footage:

• 0810 hours She was at Tedhipulia
• 0820 hours CCTV footage shows her at Kapoorthala
• 0830 hours She was seen at IT crossing.
• 0840 hours The surveillance camera showed her location at Hazratganj
• 0850 hours Her next location was at Park Road
• 0853 hours She was last seen near the Golf Club.

Unanswered questions about the incident:

• The biggest question is what forced her to be on Park Road and Lohia Path and the sequence of event prior to her rape and murder.
• Also where did her bag and cycle go from there.
• Why did she skip her exam?
• When her exam was at 9 am then why did she go cycling 15 km from her school?
• Was it because she did not want to appear in the exam?
• Why did she not inform her parents if she did not want to write the exam?