Mumbai: The Bombay High Court Wednesday asked Superintendent of Police, CID, to personally monitor the case into the mysterious death of a 12-year-old school girl whose body was found in a river near Tungareshwar hills in Maharashtra in August 2010.
Justices Abhay Oka and S S Shinde, while asking the SP to monitor the case, fixed next hearing on January 11.
The CID, headed by Deputy Superintendent, which was probing the matter, today submitted a report on its probe in a sealed cover to the Court.
The judges perused the report and then directed the Superintendent of Police to monitor the investigations.
The father of the girl, Rajesh Pawar, a resident of Vasai in Thane district, had filed a petition in the High Court seeking a fresh probe into the death of his daughter.
The Court had earlier transferred the investigations to CID and asked the agency to file a report.
On August 30, Aishwarya Pawar, a Class VIII student of Holy Cross High School in Nirmal, Nalasopara (W) died after she went for a school camp. Aishwarya was part of a group of around 150 boys and girls, who had gone to the Tungareshwar hills as part of a scouts and guides camp organised by the school. Four teachers accompanied the students.
Pawar sought transfer of probe to another agency alleging that his daughter was apparently raped and killed and that the police had not investigated the case properly.
He submitted that his daughter had gone for a school camp along with 225 students. "The students started trekking at about 9 am. Around 1.30 pm, the students realized that the girl was missing. Around 5 pm, the teachers were informed by locals that a girl’s body was found in the nearby river".
"Even if it is assumed that the girl fell into the river, she should have sustained injuries. Also, there is no explanation as to why her clothes were missing," the petition argued.
A panel of doctors had filed a report saying they suspected that the victim was sexually assaulted and murdered. However, a senior police officer had told the media that he suspected that the girl had met an accidental death.
PTI
