Badaun gangrape: CBI calls off exhumation, bodies submerged in water

The CBI has called off the exhumation of the bodies of the two girls who were gangraped and killed in Badaun as their graves were found to be submerged under water, reports The Indian Express. The report adds that “officials said they could exhume the bodies after two-three months when the waters recede,” and this was just to get “‘additional’ evidence”. “The water has submerged the graves to five feet. The situation is not appropriate to carry out the operation,” said Dr Adarsh Kumar, chairman of the medical board is quoted by Indian Express as saying. The CBI officials also questioned the uncle of the girls, the father of one of the girls. The two teenaged cousins were gangraped and hanged from a tree May 27 in Katra Sadatganj village of Badaun district. The CBI team seems to have ignored a spate of warnings about the rising river and didn’t hasten the process for exhumation.  According to IANS, the CBI team assisted by forensic experts had arrived on Saturday, to take the mortal remains from the two “kacchi” graves at the Ataina Ghat, fortified with sand bags over the past few days. However, bad weather and surging river waters hindered the process and till late Saturday evening and the team was unable to locate the bodies. [caption id=“attachment_1627015” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The crime scene in Badaun district. Image from IBN-Live[/caption] On Wednesday, the Irrigation department had warned that the CBI’s plan to conduct a fresh autopsy on the bodies would fail unless the CBI exhumed the bodies within the next two days. Despite the warning, the CBI still kept the official date for the exhumation as Sunday and it was only at the last minute that the process was moved to Saturday. Executive Engineer of Uttar Pradesh Irrigation department’s Flood Division D K Jain said had said on Wednesday, “Due to heavy rains in Uttarakhand, water level in the Ganga is rising and in next two days the graves could be submerged…The District Magistrate had asked us to protect the graves on the Ganga river bank from floods. We have given him our report after inspecting the spot.” Meanwhile an IBN-Live report has said that the CBI has found inconsistencies in the statements of the relatives of the Badaun gangrape and murder victims. The central nodal agency had conducted polygraph tests on the father and uncle of the deceased on Saturday night.