Badaun rape: Exhumation not likely, as river submerges graves

Central Bureau of Investigation’s efforts to exhume bodies of the Badaun rape victims on Sunday suffered a major jolt as rising levels of Ganga submerged the graves, prompting agency officials to decide on examining the lady doctor who conducted the first autopsy by a medical board.

CBI sources said the exhumation process is not likely in the near future as the levels of the river have risen so much that it was not possible to find and exhume the graves.

The sources said heavy machinery sought from the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation will also be of not much help. They said with heavy rains predicted in Uttarakhand, there is no likelihood of river levels coming down in the near future and if the conditions remained like this, the agency may have to wait for months to carry out the process.

In the meanwhile, a CBI team along with the doctors of the medical board surveyed the crime scene where bodies of two teenagers, who were raped and killed, were found.

The sources said an examination of the lady doctor, who carried out the first autopsy, will also be done in front of the medical board so that they can ask questions related to her observations during the post-mortem. They said the board will try to get evidence from other material and analysis of crime scene, besides examination of the doctor to piece together the rape and murder riddle.

On Saturday, CBI had dug up till 10 feet in the gushing water but the bodies could not be located. Forensic experts had recommended that a fresh autopsy was needed before forming any opinion which will necessitate exhumation of bodies.

Following the recommendation, CBI has taken permission from the appropriate authority to exhume the bodies and proceed with a fresh postmortem.

The two cousins, aged 14 and 15, went missing from their house on the night of May 27 and their bodies were found hanging from a tree in the village in Ushait area in UP’s Badaun district the next day.

Meanwhile, family of the victims alleged that local administration and CBI were not doing enough to solve the crime as the exhumation process could have been undertaken much before as apprehensions of river levels rising were expressed.

The brother of the victims said district administration is also not doing enough to help CBI solve the crime. The efforts of the local administration to protect the area of graves using sand bags failed as water breached the makeshift wall.

The need for a fresh autopsy was felt after the post-mortem report of the local doctor was only suggestive of rape without conclusively proving it. Highly-placed sources in CBI said the first post-mortem was conducted at night, which is usually against laid down procedures. Post-mortem is not conducted after sunset except in emergency cases.

Image: The spot in the village where the bodies of the two girls was found hanging.