Women take out a march demanding justice for Jisha.#JusticeForJisha and women's safety were some of the key campaigning issues leveraged by our politicians during the recent Kerala Assembly elections. These security issues along with other political factors ensured that the UDF government was replaced by the CPM-led LDF on May 19.
ADGP Sandhya to probe Jisha case
And one of the first decisions announced by the new Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was to hand over the murder case to ADGP B. Sandhya.
"Public opinion is that the present probe mechanism should change and a woman police officer should investigate," Pinarayi said during the press conference on Wednesday. "In view of that, the cabinet decided to appoint a new team headed by ADGP B Sandhya," he added.
What can we hope from Sandhya
The ADGP is credited with implementing the Janamaithri Suraksha Project (community policing) in Kerala. An IPS officer, Sandhya was also awarded the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2006. She had earlier probed controversial cases such as the sexual allegations raised against the then Kerala minister PJ Joseph in 2006.
Kerala, you forgot Soumya. How can you do justice to Jisha?
One month after the crime, what the Jisha probe reveals
Day after day, the probe team throws new possibilities at the unsuspecting people and media, who seem to lap it up without any inhibitions. True, it is not for the media to judge or take a stand on the probe findings. But the probe team has the responsibility to catch the culprits at the earliest. Even almost a month after the murder, we don't know who is the culprit and why Jisha was murdered.
Jisha's killer is dead? Suspicion falls on laborer who committed suicide
Recently, it was even suggested that this most-wanted, yet anonymous criminal in Kerala could be dead. The police said that they planned to test the DNA of a migrant laborer who had committed suicide recently. The cops plan to examine the laborer's DNA to see if it matches with the samples recovered from Jisha’s body.
Semen not found in Jisha’s body
As many as 2,000 people have been questioned in connection with the murder. Twenty of them were subjected to DNA tests. But no arrests have been made – so far.
Killer was known to Jisha?
The probe team is almost sure that the culprit was known to Jisha. Chemical test results suggested that Jisha was drugged before she was killed. The police, however, are yet to confirm if Jisha was drugged without her knowledge. All they could say was that someone had made Jisha drink a spiked concoction and that person need not be the one who killed her after that. This finding strengthens the theory that the law student was killed by someone known to her, a possibility suggested by the last words of Jisha as overheard by the neighbors.
The neighbors had told police that they had heard Jisha screaming from her house that – 'This is why we are told not to trust you'. But why didn't any of those people rush to the run-down house to save her? We don't know.
Jisha's last words: This is why we're told not to trust you
Key misses
The police also recovered a piece of footwear from the house premises days after the crime was committed. Though initially treated as a prime evidence, police now suspect the trails were deliberately left behind by a clever killer to mislead the investigators. The killer might have visited Jisha’s home and surroundings again, mingled with the crowds that descended on the spot after the news of the gruesome murder circulated on social media, the police suspect. He might have dropped the footwear near the canal to give a false lead to the police.
The police have also come under fire for ignoring a tip-off about a bloodstained knife and a pair of jeans found in a plastic bag at Pattimattam two days after Jisha’s murder. The Kunnathunad police took their own sweet time to check out the veracity of the phone call. By then the said bag was gone.
New home for Jisha's mother
The new CM has assured that construction of their house will be completed in 45 days. Jisha's sister will be provided a job. Jisha’s mother Rajeshwari is expected to be discharged from the Perumbavoor Taluk Hospital in a couple of days. She has been in the hospital ever since her daughter’s body was found.
LDF stormed into power in Kerala with the promise of setting things right. But can Pinarayi and Sandhya's team can finally bring justice to Jisha?
The chief minister's initial steps suggest an earnestness and instills confidence, something missing under the UDF government. Kerala waits with crossed fingers.
