Badaun case: No evidence of rape and murder, says CBI; Mayawati dissatisfied

Badaun: In a major twist in the highly criticised Badaun gang-rape case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been probing the case for the past five months, has now concluded that the two teenaged cousins were not sexually assaulted and they had committed suicide.

“Yes, we have cracked the Badaun case. Our probe found that the two girls had committed suicide and weren’t murdered. The local police had erroneously conducted their probe along the lines that the sisters were killed,” CBI director Ranjit Sinha was quoted as saying by the media.

The central probe agency is expected to file a comprehensive report on the Badaun case and disclose its findings by November 28 (Friday).

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, Mayawati has rejected the suicide theory of the CBI in the case, saying the agency probed the case in haste. “CBI investigated the matter in haste, we do not agree with this report,” Mayawati said in her reaction.

According to the FIR of the state police, the two Dalit cousins, aged 14 and 15 years, were allegedly gang-raped and murdered and their bodies were found hanging from a mango tree a day after they went missing on May 27 at Katra village in Badaun. The CBI, which took over the probe from the state police in June, found that the two were not sexually assaulted or killed either.

A top CBI officer reportedly said that during the investigation it was found that the two cousins allegedly plotted their own end because their family disapproved their friendship with a villager, who was also probed by the agency but was later cleared.

CBI had already decided not to file a chargesheet against the five persons arrested by Uttar Pradesh police - Pappu, Awadhesh and Urvesh Yadav (all three brothers) and constables Chhatrapal Yadav and Sarvesh Yadav - in connection with alleged gang-rape and murder of the two teenagers in Katra village.

"The Medical Board has come to conclusion that sexual assault on either of the victims appears doubtful," a senior CBI official had said. The CBI had taken help of the Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) which ruled out sexual assault on the two girls.

There was also conflicting statements by the parents of the two cousins. The sources said the CDFD report had cleared a lot of doubts raised over the cousins being sexually assaulted before being killed.

The five key accused persons had cleared the lie-detection test.

When questioned whether the agency was also probing the family’s role in abetting the suicides, CBI chief Sinha refused to comment on it.  

The CBI insisted on the basis of its field investigation and polygraph or lie-detection tests that the main witness, Nazru, a distant relative of the cousins, gave fake details to frame key accused, Pappu Yadav, and four others. The officer said Pappu had met the girls around 9 pm on May 27 near Nazru’s residence on the outskirts of the village.

The police used Nazru’s version to arrest Pappu and four others within hours after the girls’ bodies were found hanging from a tree.