Daijiworld Media Network – Sullia (SP)

Sullia, Apr 6: An incident in which the headless, decomposed body of a two-month old child was brought by a dog and abandoned on the platform of a house located by the side of Kumaradhara River in Subrahmanya, sent shock waves through the town. After the incident, which occurred on Monday April 4, hundreds of people including auto rickshaw drivers, picketed in front of the police station for about four hours, demanding immediate arrest of the couple.

The rickshaw drivers and others in the town had seen a couple visiting the town with a baby in hand, on March 31. The two along with the child, continued to be here thereafter, and also visited the bank of the river. A rickshaw driver, whose vehicle they hired from near Kulkunda forest on Monday afternoon, turned suspicious, noting that they did not have the baby with them. He carried the couple to Subrahmanya, and informed others of the development.

All the rickshaw drivers then demanded the policemen to summon the couple to police station and interrogate them. The couple later presented themselves in front of the policemen on duty, and claimed that they were newly married. They also showed marriage registration papers to the policemen, which showed that the couple, Hairkant and Nagaratna, was from Kumta in Uttara Kannada district, and that the husband works for Indian Army at Bangalore. When the local people insisted on asking them about the child, they said that the child belonged to their relatives and that it had been returned to its parents. As the rickshaw drivers could not prove any guilt, and did not find the child even after elaborate search at the river bank, the couple was let off. They went by a Dharmasthala-bound bus.

After finding the body of the child lalter, the locals supported by the rickshaw drivers  staged another protest, demanding for the arrest of the couple, and for taking action against the policemen who let off the parents without proper investigation. The auto d rivers held the policemen squarely responsible for the fiasco. By the time the in-charge circle inspector, Srikant, arrived at the spot, the situation had turned tense.

After Srikant promised to meet the demands of the locals, the police jeep was allowed to carry the body of the child to the government hospital. At the insistence of the locals, policeman, Balakrishna, came to the spot and apologized to the people, for letting the couple go Scot free. Srikant said that steps will be taken to arrest the culprits, and a proper investigation will be initiated.