Kochi: Several fake news over the mysterious death of nurse Annliya are rife, her father claimed. Huygens Parakkal, whose daughter Annliya was found dead in the Periyar River in late August, also asserted that the crime branch had never suggested suicide.
Parakkal also said that he was waiting for the crime branch to hear him out once they were done gathering evidence in the case. "Some people want us to believe that Annliya committed suicide. Some people even try to propagate that the case has been closed. But I have clear reasons to believe that it was not a suicide," he told Onmanorama.
Some of the rumours were even attributed to the police crime branch, he added.
Huygens said that he had found out that the CCTV at the Thrissur railway station was functioning on the day she disappeared. Later the authorities claimed that the cameras were not working when the police checked them. The cameras were working on the day before and the day after. "It is mysterious to claim that the camera was not working on that crucial day," Parakkal said.
He also pointed out that the Annliya's husband Justin, who is in the dock in connection with the murder, could have tampered with evidence since his father was a railway employee in Alappuzha.
Parakkal also cited contradictions in Justin's claims and the phone records of Annliya. "The last call from Annliya's phone was made at 4.28 pm on August 25, the day she died. But Justin claimed to a priest that he received a call from Annliya at 4.37 pm threatening that she would jump into the river. Though the priest asked Justin to connect him to Annliya, Justin did not do so. I suspect that Justin acted out the part to make an impression that Annliya was alive at the time. Even the priest confirmed my doubts," he said.
Adding to the doubts, Justin went to the police only at 11 pm and he had not mentioned to them about the call or the warnings.
The railway station master at Aluva has said that he had received no alert about anyone falling from the train on August 25, Parakkal added. "The river is hardly three minutes away from the Aluva station. Most of the passengers who want to alight at Aluva come near the door by the time the train crosses the river. They would have surely known if someone fell into the river. There were no reports of anyone falling into the river. Even railway authorities said so," he said.
Parakkal said that he was informed that the crime branch had got hold of Justin's phone. "If that was the case, the police can get to know of these things if they examined the phone. I believe that it was impossible to tamper with the phone now," he said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan handed over the case to the crime branch following a plea from Parakkal to change the investigating officer, the Guruvayur ACP.
