NEW DELHI, 18 January 2007 — Police investigating the gruesome murders of about 20 children and women on the outskirts of New Delhi are themselves under scrutiny by India’s top investigation agency for their handling of the case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — which took over the case a week ago — is investigating the police in Noida, a satellite town of the capital where the serial killings occurred. “The investigation into the murders includes all aspects of the case,” CBI spokesman G. Mohanty said yesterday, when asked if the police were also part of the probe.
Media reports have said the CBI is scrutinizing the police’s involvement in the shocking case where human remains — including body parts and skulls, mostly of children — were found in the backyard and drain of a rich businessman’s house last month.
The businessman and his domestic servant have been arrested.
Police in Uttar Pradesh state, where Noida is located, have been slammed for not adequately investigating complaints from parents about their missing children for more than two years. Authorities sacked six policemen and suspended four others for negligence but accusations against the police continue.
Some journalists have said the media also knew about the reports of missing children in Noida but failed to cover the issue until the remains were found. Social activists, who became suspicious in 2005 when many parents reported their daughters were disappearing, claim police turned a blind eye to the accused last year, even though residents found a body part in the drains behind his lavish home.
“We saw a piece of a leg lying in the drain behind the house last year and we told the police, who said ‘No, ma’am, this is a peacock’s leg’ and they just threw it away somewhere,” said local activist, Usha Thapar.
“Police eventually questioned the owner of the house around October, but released him as he is a big, rich man — as they believed him instead of the poor parents.” Buta Singh, the state’s director general of police, admitted errors in handling the case but claimed the media was sensationalizing the issue.
“We have always admitted there was negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of local officials who did not register the cases in the first place,” Singh told Reuters. But even after the suspects were arrested, police have been accused of corrupting the crime scene by not preventing angry residents from storming the house where the murders took place, and for allowing journalists inside.
They were also accused of failing to carry out a proper search of the scene before handing the case over to the CBI.
Federal detectives have, meanwhile, issued a public appeal for information to help unravel the killings.
