Father preserves ‘gang-rape’ victim’s body in salt pit for 44 days after police botch-up probe in hope of fair autopsy

New Delhi: For 44 days the distraught father of a girl, who was ‘gang-raped’ and killed thereafter, kept her body preserved in a salt pit in Maharashtra’s tribal-dominated Nandurbar district in the hope that she would get a proper post-mortem examination that will out the truth about her death and, therefore, of the perpetrators. As the family of the deceased told Firstpost, justice had evaded the 27-year-old, even in death as the police allegedly registered suicide as the cause of death, overlooking the parent’s complaint and the dubious circumstances in which she had died. Her uncle Rusha Khadkya, told Firstpost that they got the doctor, who had performed her post-mortem, on record, saying, he had botched up the examination under police pressure. “He (the doctor) told us that the police officer only asked him to look for injuries on body and not examine it for rape,” Khadkya said. The call recording of this conversation has now been submitted to the police. Thereafter, on August 1 the deceased’s father buried her body in a salt pit, not going ahead with cremation so that it could be re-examined. “Despite complaining that she was raped and killed, the police did not investigate in that direction,” said her father. “My daughter did not commit suicide. After being raped, she was killed and hanged from a tree. The role of Dhadgaon police is questionable. I have kept the body in a salt pit for re-mortem. No cremation will take place unless the post-mortem is done again,” victim’s father reportedly said. The deceased, a married tribal woman, was living with her father in Dhadgaon taluka of Nandurbar district after separation from husband. As per the complaint of the family, the deceased was allegedly abducted forcibly on a motorcycle by one Ranjit Thackeray, an acquaintance from nearby Vavi village, and another person. They were later joined by two others, the complaint alleges. The four men allegedly took her at least 20-30 km out of her village and gang-raped her. She was even able to steal a few moments amid her ordeal to call for help on a mobile phone. The complaint further adds that the deceased had expressed fear for life over the phone if no one came to her rescue. “She told us that they gang-raped her and she won’t be spared alive because of that,” her uncle told Firstpost. Later, her family was informed that she had hanged herself from a mango tree in Vavi. As the family rushed to the spot, the body was removed from the tree and evidence was destroyed, alleged her father. It is also alleged that the police did not investigate the victim’s mobile phone conversation that had happened just before her death. So far three suspects namely Ranjit Thackeray (19), Sunil alias Hana Valvi (21), Amar alias Gotu Valvi (18) have been arrested in this case, said Shahada sub-divisional police officer Shrikant Ghumre. After much public uproar the Superintendent of Police ordered the Dhadgaon Police to exhume the body and re-examine it thoroughly. Accordingly, the police have sent a letter to the magistrate. “Several additional clauses were added after the investigation revealed the facts. Now the body will be dissected again. An application has been made to the taluka magistrate in this regard,” said Shrikant Ghumre. Meanwhile, local MP Heena Gavit too has intervened in the matter and demanded that the police conduct a second autopsy as soon as possible. However, the deceased’s uncle told Firstpost that the family want the investigation to be transferred to another district “in order to maintain fairness this time”. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.