Seven years after police probe, man seeks CBI investigation into daughter’s death

The death of his 18yearold daughter Mishel Shaji Varghese should be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), her father Shaji Varghese told the media here on Monday.

Mr. Varghese said that even seven years after his daughter’s death, the probe had not reached anywhere. Mishel, a native of Elanji in Piravom doing her CA, was staying at a hostel near Kacheripady. She had left the hostel on the evening of March 5, 2017, reportedly on her way to the Novena church at Kaloor.

The police later recovered her body from the Kochi backwaters near the Ernakulam wharf around 8.45 p.m. the next day.

According to the police, she had jumped off the Goshree bridge. Mr. Varghese said the family had petitioned the police about her disappearance on March 5, but the first information report was dated March 6, which, he accused, was gross negligence on the part of the police. The police had never given a satisfactory response to doubts raised by the family about the death.

Mr. Varghese demanded a probe into the alleged dereliction of duty on the part of a Station House Officer and three police stations after receiving complaints about Mishel’s death.

The police had arrested 26yearold Cronin Alexander Baby on charge of abetting suicide.

According to the police, Cronin, who was employed in Chhattisgarh, had harassed the girl and following the mental trauma, she had taken the extreme step.

The police had said that Cronin used to threaten Mishel against her withdrawing from the relationship and had called her multiple times on the day she disappeared. The police also recorded the statement of one of Mishel’s friends about Cronin behaving in a harsh manner with Mishel.