THRISSUR: Kairali and Karthikeyan from Valappad in Thrissur are groping in the dark for more than a month as they are unable to unravel the mystery behind the death of their daughter, Shruthi Karthikeyan, who was found dead in Erode on August 17. Shruthi, who was a law student in Bengaluru, had informed the parents that she would reach home on August 20.
However, the parents said they received a phone call from Erode police station on April 17 saying that Shruthi has been admitted to a hospital there. When they reached there, they were told that Shruthi had died. The family suspects that Shruthi had become a victim of the actions of a drug and sex racket, Karthikeyan said.
Kairali said as per the postmortem report, Shruthi had sustained fractures on the ribs. “I had requested the authorities in Erode to show me the full body of Shruthi before postmortem, but they showed me only her face, and the rest of the body was covered,” Kariali said.
The family members said they were yet to receive the forensic analysis report of the samples collected from the Shruthi’s body.
She also alleged that she had become suspicious after talking to Shruthi’s friends. “I was asked by the police to sign in some documents written in Tamil. Initially I declined, but later they persuaded me to sign in those papers, assuring me that they were related to the release of the body of my daughter. However, I came to know that the document had actually stated that I had no complaints about the death of Shruthi,” Kairali said.
“From the conversations of her friends, I could make out that she had set off from Bengaluru to reach home as she had informed earlier, and had come up to Edamuttam near Valappad. But she was taken to Aluva, and from there to Erode by her friends. There are indications that Shruthi and her friends had a quarrel at Aluva station,” she alleged.
The family of Shruthi had given a complaint at Valappad police station also. An officer had accompanied Karthikeyan and Kariali to Erode station. “But the case has to be investigated by the police at Erode as the crime had taken place there,” an officer at Valappad station said.
However, Valappad police have taken the statement of Shruthi’s friend Harikrishnan from Adoor, who was present at Erode when the family reached there. “His statements have to be cross-checked. We have brought them to the notice of the Tamil Nadu police, through official channels,” said Valappad CI Sushant.
“I have sent a complaint to several officials, including the chief minister, but none has told me what has happened to my daughter,” Kairali said.
