Mother of Class 10 ‘suicide victim’ says police tried to ‘hush up murder’

With Mangaluru police under increasing pressure in the mysterious death of a Class 10 student of Alva’s High School in Moodbidri, the parents of the victim have now alleged efforts to hush up the case over fears that their child, Kavya Poojary, was murdered on July 20, the day her body was found hanging inside her hostel room.

Speaking to HT, Kavya’s mother Baby Poojary said the conduct of the police had been suspicious from the beginning. “What was the hurry to shift her body to the mortuary even before we were allowed to see her,” she said.

The mother said it was hard for her to accept that Kavya, a national level badminton player, would decide to end her life so suddenly. “The police have failed to interrogate a physical trainer who Kavya told me she was supposed to meet that day.”

What adds to the mystery is Kavya’s missing diary. “She used to maintain a dairy, which went missing on the day of her death,” her mother said.

The school’s alleged laxity in handling similar cases in the past, too, paints a grim picture.

An RTI application by a student body revealed that there have been 10 cases of “suicide” reported from the educational institution’s campus between 2008 and 2016.

Allegations that the police did not conduct a fair investigation initially have led to the demand for an impartial probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation. On Wednesday, around 7,000 people gathered in Mangaluru, under the aegis of Justice for Kavya Horata Samiti, demanding that the family be given a compensation of ₹25 lakh.