CA student's father rejects suicide angle, insists she was killed

Kochi: The father of a chartered accountancy student whose body was found in the Kochi backwaters last year has repeated his charge that she was murdered and thrown into the waters, even as the police maintain it was a suicide. The body of Shaji Varghese's daughter Michelle Shaji, 18, was found under mysterious circumstances on the evening of March 6, 2017 near the Island Wharf in the Vembanad Lake.

A special team from the Crime Branch which is probing the case had told the High Court that it was a case of suicide. The police team said she was driven to suicide after a young man, Cronyn, troubled her mentally on that day over the phone as well as by text messages. They quoted the post-mortem report and the doctor's statement to establish that there was no drowning or use of force or attempt to rape. However, Shaji says he has lost faith in the Crime Branch probe.

The police submission came in response to a petition filed by Shaji, a resident of Periyappuram in Ernakulam District, seeking an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Shaji has now repeated his arguments, insisting that the suicide theory offered by the police is wrong.

The mystery surrounding the death remains unresolved even after 16 months, he pointed out, and asked why it is that the local police or Crime Branch hasn't submitted a final report on the investigation.

Apart from Shaji, an action committee that seeks the truth on Michelle's death, has also submitted a plea at the High Court for a CBI probe.

Shaji's arguments

Michelle's body was picked up after over 24 hours of her disappearance. But the body had not decayed. It was like she had fallen into the waters just a few hours before. There were no signs of her having drunk water. Fish or insects seen in the area had not bitten the body. Fishermen in the locality say dead bodies are attacked by fish and other water creatures within two hours. Two bodies of women who had fallen from the same bridge and drowned were found later. They were deformed, and were found at a spot opposite to where Michelle's body was found.

The woman seen walking on the Goshree Bridge in the visuals that police cite as that of Michelle is not her, Shaji insisted.

The injury and other marks on the body were not considered in the post-mortem. The police did not inquire about two people who followed Michelle on a bike when she had left the Kaloor St. Antony's church.

It is unclear as to how her watch, ring and mobile phone were lost.

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