Police portraying murder as suicide, says father of slain teenage daughter

Jammu, May 09, 2023 (PPI-OT): In what clearly proves how Indian police in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir shield culprits, Basant Lal, father of a teenage girl, who was found hanging in a hotel in Katra, Undhampur district, on April 9, 2023, on Monday said that police were trying to hush the murder case of her daughter by portraying it as suicide incident. Lal, a resident of remote village of Ramnagar area in Udhampur district in a media interview, said, “No one is listening to me. Police are claiming that my daughter committed a suicide but one month has passed they haven’t even collected her post-mortem report.” he deplored that even his complaint has not been registered, as yet.

Quoting policemen, Lal said, “They are telling me”: “We know our job.”

He said that senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the party spokesman R S Pathania had told him that he would accompany him (Lal) to Katra and seek the details of the case from the Police. ‘It seems Pathania Sahib has also become busy. He hasn’t kept up his promise to come along with me.”

Lal said, “I am a poor man and have lost my teenage daughter but no one is understanding my pain and agony. I want to know the cause of my daughter’s death. Even after one month Police are carrying out inquest proceedings. They have not even recorded the statement of the colleagues of my deceased daughter.”

Father of the victim Basant Lal last week had urged the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to hand over his daughter’s case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Lal had said, “Police haven’t even registered a FIR in the case. Nor have they collected her post-mortem report. We don’t even know her cause of death. She died on April 9, 2023 and till date I don’t know what led to my daughter’s death.” He said, “Police are trying to pass on the murder of my daughter as a suicide and I have lost hope to get justice.” Lal had said that Police were trying to hush up the murder case of his daughter. “I hope my voice will reach LG Sinha. He would take the cognizance and handover the case to CBI,” Lal said.

Lal had alleged: “Owner of the hotel where my daughter was serving is an influential person, so cops are trying to hush up the murder of my teenage daughter.” He refuted the police’s story that his daughter had committed a suicide. “I have lost faith in Katra Police”, he had said and aired apprehension that by abusing his position the hotel owner would change the post-mortem report with the “help of police officers.” He recalled that on April 8 evening, he spoke to his 18-year old daughter and she was happy and satisfied with her job. “On April 9, I received a call on my phone from Police Station Katra. I was informed that my daughter is critical and asked to rush to Katra immediately”, he said and regretted that when he reached Katra he was informed that his daughter has committed suicide.

“Police kept me in the dark”, he pointed out and added that cops were not even ready to record the statement of the colleagues of his deceased daughter. As per a report a teenage female staffer of a prominent hotel in Katra town was found hanging under mysterious circumstances at the staff quarter of the hotel last month. The 18-year old girl was found hanging from the ceiling fan in the staff quarter of the hotel.

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