HC shifts Gondia girl kidnapping case to CID

Nagpur: Following failure of Gondia police to trace the five-year-old girl, missing from last three and half years, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, on Tuesday, transferred the probe to Maharashtra’s Crime Investigative Department (CID).
A division bench comprising justice Bhushan Gavai and justice Atul Chandurkar directed the Amgaon Police Station, where FIR was lodged, to handover entire probe documents and reports to the CID within a week, after lawyer Omnarayan Gupta made a strong pleading in this regard.
Aarushi, the minor daughter of Anandrao and Varsha Suryavanshi from Amgaon was playing with a friend outside her home, when the unidentified kidnappers picked her up and ran away on July 20, 2013. Her parents then lodged the complaint with the police station on same day. However, when the police miserably failed to trace the missing kid for about three and half years, her parents knocked the judiciary’s doors through counsel Gupta, praying for handing over the investigations to either CBI or CID. They also prayed for directives to cops to submit progress report of investigations in the case till date in the court.
During hearing, Gupta accused Amgaon police inspector PD Pandhre of helping the kidnappers to run away and also for shoddy investigations of entire case. Even after naming suspects by the family, he refused to investigate them for all these years.
The petitioners also charged Pandhre of allegedly misleading them by making false promises that he would soon catch the culprits. Despite being informed about their neighbour, whom they named as one of the suspects, the PI failed to investigate him. The Suyavanshi family had a dispute over a passage with neighbour Pathode family and therefore, they suspect latter’s role in the kidnapping.
Gupta pointed out that Arushi’s scarf was found at Pathode family’s residence and Pandhre was informed accordingly. But instead of examining the suspects, the PI rapped the petitioners.
The PI had submitted a progress report to subdivisional officers after the parents lodged a complaint with director general of police, but it failed to mention any reference to child’s scarf found in the neighbour’s home.