Gauri parents meet SSP, skip protest

LUCKNOW: After a meeting with the senior superintendent of police for two hours on Thursday, Gauri’s parents said they were satisfied with prima facie evidences shown to them by police. Earlier, on Wednesday, Gauri’s father Shishir Srivastava had protested at GPO demanding investigation to be carried out by CBI.
Cops faced criticism over the murder weapon theory, after which they called the grieving parents and tried to convince them.TV channels went viral with the report that two policemen purchased a handsaw from a Telibagh-based hardware shop hours before raiding the house of the accused on the intervening night of February 7 and 8 at Shiv Vihar locality in Kharika.
Joint Secretary of NGO Ummeed, Aradhna Singh, said, “We organised a condolence meet for Gauri. The parents were also expected, but around 3pm we learnt they had been called to the SSP residence. At 3.30pm, their cell phone remained switched off.
Meanwhile, addressing media, SSP Yashasvi Yadav said, “We called the parents to show them evidence and clear their doubts.”
The protest meet at GPO was attended by around 250 people form all walks of life. As students and teachers, along with people from civil defence and religious organisations gathered at the Gandhi statue, Gauri’s family was conspicuous by its absence.
After meeting SSP for at least two hours, Shishir Srivastava told TOI, “The evidences shown to us are satisfactory prima facie. They need to be tested at the forensic lab. They have meaning only if they could be established in the court.” Gauri’s family was allowed to go only when the protesters dispersed from the spot, three hours later.
The absence of the family made protesters angry. “I had gone to meet Gauri’s parents at the SSP office, but they denied their presence inside. What more are the police trying to hide,” asked Rachna Tripathi.
“The fight is to make the probe transparent. We as common people are not satisfied with police investigation. Police need to include the victim’s family in the probe. By stopping them from joining the protest, police have magnified out apprehensions,” said Pramil Dwivedi.