Mumbai: Authorities give clean chit to Wadala GRP

Days after the Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) and Nehru Nagar cops started a blame-game regarding their investigations in the Aarti Rithadiya missing case, the GRP authorities gave a clean chit to the Wadala section claiming that there was no negligence on their part.

Meanwhile, the city police ordered an inquiry to find out whether there was any lapse in the procedure followed by the Nehru Nagar cops.

Speaking to mid-day, DCP (zone 6), Shashi Kumar Meena, said, "We ordered an inquiry on Wednesday. The report will clear queries about the investigation carried out by the Nehru Nagar police."

Meanwhile, a senior GRP officer said, "We have checked all the papers and the procedure followed by the Wadala GRP in the case. We haven't found any lapse or negligence on their part. We don't feel there is a need to carry out any inquiry."

Aarti had gone missing on March 30, 2019, and the same day the Wadala GRP had found her body on the tracks near Tilak Nagar railway station.

Even though the Wadala officers had uploaded Aarti's details on the state police website and circulated her picture on their common WhatsApp group, the Nehru Nagar cops never saw it.

As Aarti remained untraceable, her father Pancharam Rithadiya committed suicide, sighting police inaction. Following his suicide, protesters clashed with policemen at his funeral in Chembur, in which seven cops were injured.

The probe of Aarti's case was handed over to the Crime Branch unit 6 in December 2019. During the investigation, the Crime Branch officers recovered Aarti's body from the Sion Hospital morgue, 10 months after she went missing.

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