Continued from page u0010 u000f AARTI, who went missing on March . u008d , . u008d u0081 u0090 , was found dead on rail tracks on the same day. Even though itu2019s still not clear whether she committed suicide or died in an accident, a shoddy investigation led to her father, Pancharam Rithadiya killing himself on October u0081 . last year. Post the incident, the Nehru Nagar cops had found a suicide note in his pocket, which blamed the cops and five other people from his community for Aartiu2019s death.
The messy probe On the day of Aartiu2019s disappearance, her family had approached the Nehru Nagar police and submitted an ID card as her age proof. The card mentioned her age as u0081 . years.
The Nehru Nagar cops registered a missing personu2019s case and circulated the information among all police stations. Twenty days later the family returned with Aartiu2019s birth certificate, which mentions her as a minor. Thereafter, a kidnapping case was registered and an investigation started. However, both the times the cops did not reach out to the nearby hospitals. At the same time, the Wadala GRP recovered Aartiu2019s body from rail tracks and took her to Sion Hospital where they entered her age as . . years.
While the GRP claims that they had circulated information about Aarti on the police network, Nehru Nagar cops are of the opinion that the former did not inform them about the body. Speaking to mid- day, DCP ( Zone . ) , Mumbai police, Shashi Kumar Meena, said, u201c We are reviewing the facts and procedures followed by the police station. We will definitely check where the negligence happened.u201d . On the other hand, DCP ( Central Railway), MM Makandar, said, u201c We are checking with our officers what exactly they did to identify the girl and whether they followed the standard operating procedure.u201d The case was later handed over to the Crime Branch Unit . headed by Dipak Chavhan. Soon after, a team comprising assistant police inspectors, Anil Gaikwad and Archana Kudale started the investigation.
u201c To begin with, we checked all the accidental death reports registered in u0090 u00ad police stations across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar.
Later, we screened a number of childrenu2019s and womenu2019s shelter,u201d said an officer.
u201c Teams were also sent to womenu2019s jails and even marriage registry offices across the city were checked but we did not find anything. Social media accounts were screened and three suspects were rounded off but it yielded nothing,u201d the officer added.
The Crime Branch had sought details from all the GRPs in the city but they didnu2019t get any information about Aarti.
Finally, the Crime Branch decided to check the morgues of different hospitals. When one of the officers visited Sion hospital, he found an entry of a . . - yr- old girl in the list.
When her details and pictures were shared with Aartiu2019s family, they identified her.
GRP claim they circulated info on Aarti, cops say they didnu2019t get it CHEMBUR u001f VIOLENCE u001f CASE u2018 We have carried out all the procedures as per the protocol.
There has not been any negligence on our part. We have all the documents with usu2019 Rajendra Pal, senior inspector ( Wadala GRP) mid- dayu2019s report on January 31 mid- dayu2019s Oct 23 report Aartiu2019s sister speaks On February 27 Aartiu2019s father went to Gujarat to see his father, as he was unwell. At that time, his brother- in- law came to stay with them. Aartiu2019s elder sister, Pooja Rithadiya said, u201c Around mid- March last year I spotted Aarti speaking to a guy at the Hanuman temple near our house. When I asked her who he was, she replied saying, u2018 He is Bhagchand.u2019u201d Since then Pooja noticed that she would use her maternal uncleu2019s phone to speak and message someone. Around 7 am on March 30 when Pooja again saw her speaking on the phone, she yelled at her and said, u201c Enough is enough. Iu2019ll tell your mother and uncle about this.u201d Aarti retaliated by saying, u201c Do whatever you want.u201d That is when she left the house and never returned.
Pancharam Rithadiya; ( right) Aarti Rithadiya
