Parents of Lakhimpur girl seek CBI probe in murder

Lakhimpur/Lucknow (PTI) - With the murder of the
Lakhimpur teenaged girl snowballing into a major political
issue, her parents on Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the
incident hours after Chief Minister Mayawati said she would
not object to such an inquiry if the victim's family wants.
The father and mother of the 14-year-old girl gave in
writing to local Congress MP Zafar Ali Naqvi in Lakhimpur
in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh seeking a Central
Bureau of Investigation(CBI) inquiry into the alleged rape and
murder of their daughter.
Under strident opposition attack ahead of Assembly
elections in the state early next year, Mayawati had earlier
said in Lucknow that she has no objection to a CBI inquiry if
the family of the victim wants it.
"If the family of the victim wants a CBI or any other
inquiry, my government has no objection. The only fear is that
in case of CBI inquiry the probe may get messed up like in the
Aarushi murder case," the chief minister said.
The victim's body was found hanging inside the Nighasan
police station in the district on Friday, sparking protests
from opposition parties which demanded nothing short a CBI
probe.
Her parent's letter was forwarded to the district
magistrate for further action and in his covering note Naqvi
demanded that the state government should order a CBI inquiry
within 24 hours, the MP's aide Saif Ali Khan said.
The parents said in the letter that they have no faith in
any investigating agency other than the CBI.
In a related development, the Allahabad High Court
directed the state government to submit a status report on the
CB-CID or any other agency probe into the inc2NDLD GIRL 2 LAST
The court order came on a petition filed by a local lawyer
seeking direction for a CBI probe into the case.
An investigating team of the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC), meanwhile, recorded statements of the three
doctors who conducted the first autopsy of the girl, which had
ruled out murder.
The doctors who had performed the first autopsy - A K
Agarwal, S P Singh and A K Sharma - have already been placed
under suspension by the state government.
In Lucknow, Special Director General of Police Brij Lal
said two policemen accused of tampering evidence were
absconding after reports that they have been identified for
the murder.
He again ruled out rape and said no such incident was
mentioned in the second post mortem conducted by a panel of
expert doctors from Lucknow.
"Unless the accused is arrested, the motive behind the
crime cannot be established," he said answering a question.
In another development, the state government has suspended
the then SP of Lakhimpur D K Rai, who had stated after the
first post mortem on the teenager that she had committed
suicide and was not murdered. The second post-mortem has
concluded that the girl was killed but not raped.
Hitting back at her political opponents for raising a hue
and cry over the incident Mayawati said, "Whenever any inhuman
incident occurs against women, opposition should rise above
party politics....and not indulge in dirty politics."
Meanwhile, Union ministers Krishna Tirath and RPN Singh
pitched for a CBI probe. Tirath said justice cannot be ensured
without a CBI investigation, while Singh wondered as to how
the CID would probe the incident when policemen themselves are
allegedly involved.