Bengaluru: After the death of six-year-old P Vennela under mysterious circumstances on March 24, the police team investigating the case missed quite a few clear red flags and, worse, their probe hit the slow lane for several weeks. It’s only after a fortuitous intervention by a Lokayukta IGP that autopsy report was re-read, the probe scope was widened, and the case gained pace.Police Friday suspended three officials from Kadugodi police station who handled early investigations — inspector Rangaswamy (now posted as inspector, Electronic City traffic police station), sub-inspector Ningaraju and constable Halesh — on charges of apathy and negligence.The action comes days after the arrest of the girl’s mother P Priyanka, an advocate, and her live-in partner Mohan GM’s confession that he fatally elbowed her in the stomach over spilled ice cream in their MUV. Initially, her mother had told police Vennela died of suffocation as she had slept inside the parked vehicle with windows shut tight.Bengaluru City police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said investigation had lapses, caused by “wrong intentions”. An officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of police from a different division will re-conduct the investigation, he said, adding the suspended officials will face department inquiry.Deputy commissioner of police, Whitefield, Saidulu Adavat said police were awaiting toxicology and histopathology reports from Forensic Sciences Laboratory. “We had to believe the child’s mother version as she was at the scene of the crime. Though the autopsy report suggested internal injuries on the stomach and asphyxiation as the cause of death, the mother claimed the child had fallen the previous day, resulting in internal injuries. Further, asphyxiation could have happened as the child was asleep inside the four-wheeler with windows rolled up. Despite all these, we subjected the two — particularly, Mohan — to deep interrogation. This made Mohan avail anticipatory bail,” DCP Adavat said.The FSL on May 27 confirmed the death was caused by internal injuries and asphyxiation. “Immediately, we contacted the child’s father, B Praveen, asking him to register a murder case. We also approached the court to successfully get Mohan’s anticipatory bail cancelled,” he added.While police accelerated the pace and scope of investigations, Praveen shared the report of the autopsy, conducted at Vaidehi Hospital in Whitefield, with his sister Poornima Pandey, a child specialist in England. She, in turn, shared the document with her MBBS classmate, Dr Subramanyeswara Rao, now a senior IPS officer and posted as inspector-general of police, Lokayukta.Dr Rao said told TOI here was enough material to register a murder case. “We examined the doctor who conducted the autopsy and the scene of crime officers along with the police officers. The outcome of the inquiry was communicated to Seemanth Kumar Singh,” he said.In a scathing criticism of the police investigation, the IGP told TOI: “From day one, it was a case of murder. After the autopsy report came in, police could’ve registered a case of murder as the report indicated death was caused by asphyxia, obstruction to the airways and blunt injury to the abdomen. Instead, the suspects were allowed to roam free for nearly two months, going about further destroying any remaining evidence and secure anticipatory bail from the court.”
