Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Friday, October 24, 2014.
Sanskrit
teacher-turned-amateur-sleuth stages sit-in; claims he has proof that his
mother's death was a murder.
At Freedom
Park in Gandhinagar, a young protester is squatting in the afternoon sun,
holding aloft a bunch of papers in his hand. Photographs and other documents
are strewn all around him. A textbook on The Essentials of Forensic Medicine
and Toxicology is placed upright on the floor, as though giving witness. In the
background, a woman's picture adorns a poster. She seems to be silently
encouraging the young man.
Freedom Park
is known for its quirky protesters, but 31-year-old Veda Raj B D from Alur
taluk in Hassan, now a resident of RT Nagar, is not one of them. His is a
one-man mission to seek justice for his late mother, who he believes was
murdered, and bring the criminals responsible before the law.
To this end,
Veda Raj has now poured through medical journals, studied authoritative sources
on document forgery, and interviewed and collected opinions from a dozen
doctors. The part-time Sanskrit teacher-turned-amateur-investigator now claims
to have sufficient proof that his mother's death was a murder, and not a
natural death as claimed by the police. He wants the case to be reopened and
those responsible brought to book.
Feud over
property Veda Raj's family had a longstanding feud with their aunt (uncle's
wife) and her sons over a 25 X 40 square feet site at Alur, where his family
was planning to construct a house. Veda Raj claims the first attack by his
aunt's family was against him and his brother on October 1, 2013. A police
complaint was filed. A second, more vicious attack took place on October 15,
2013. This time his mother, H Y Monakshi, was brutally hit on her head and all
over the body with wooden logs by his aunt and her sons, Veda Raj said.
Though she
was rushed immediately to the government hospital in Hassan, her arms and legs
became paralysed the next day. She was initially referred to the Kidwai
Memorial Institute in Bangalore, and after three days of treatment, to Nimhans.
While undergoing treatment at Nimhans, Monakshi passed away on January 2, 2014.
Veda Raj first
lodged a complaint on October 15 with the Alur police. Though it was
acknowledged, an FIR was not registered. But he became incensed and suspicious
after policemen tore off his mother's statement taken at the Hassan hospital,
Veda Raj said. A second complaint was again given on October 24. This time an
FIR was registered, but with bailable sections. He says the relevant IPC
Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons)
were not slapped.
After her
death, Veda Raj demanded a post-mortem. "The Alur police said a
post-mortem was not required and forced us to bury and carry out the final
rites. But on January 6, I filed a petition with Ravi D Channannavar,
superintendent of police, Hassan. No action was taken by the Alur police even
after he asked them to register a case and exhume the body for the
post-mortem." Undaunted, Veda Raj persisted. On January 19, he met IPS
officer Alok Kumar (additional commissioner [law and order]), Bangalore, who
pulled up Alur police. "This time they registered a case. The body was
exhumed and the post-mortem was conducted on February 14," he told
Bangalore Mirror.
Studied the
footage Veda Raj found the post-mortem process riddled with errors. "An
expert doctor was not called in during the post-mortem, and a photographer too
was missing." He received the shock of his life when the post-mortem
report concluded it to be a natural death, despite recording more than 20
injuries.
Through an
RTI application, he got a copy of the video footage of the post-mortem. Though
there was discontinuity in the visuals, Veda Raj found it clearly showed
injuries on his mother's body. "The injuries included one on her backbone,
on her skull, and neck," he told Bangalore Mirror. After overhearing a
conversation, Veda Raj even claims that the surgeon took away the memory card
of the footage and deleted portions of it. Using the same RTI process, Veda Raj
also claimed to have unearthed a forged letter, supposedly from his mother, in
the possession of the police department. In the letter dated October 19, 2013,
his mother (who was then hospitalised), is found to make the surprise claim
that she had patched up with Veda Raj's aunt and family.
Docs support
him Smelling a rat, Veda Raj whose education is a basic degree and some
Sanskrit now turned to study forensics and became an amateur sleuth. He poured
over medical journals for months, and read books on forensic science. He became
more confident when the doctors he consulted admitted the possibility of
unnatural death. Veda Raj said they cited the internal injuries mentioned in
the post-mortem report as the reason.
Since then,
Veda Raj has been on a relentless pursuit to bring justice to his mother. He
met the DG and IGP, the State Human Rights Commission, the State Woman's Rights
Commission, and ministers. With all his efforts going in vain, he kicked off
his silent protest at Freedom Park from Monday. "I am staging an
indefinite strike here till the authorities act," Veda Raj added.
When
contacted, SP Channannavar said the police had acted based on the conclusions
of experts. He, however, said the department is open to a fresh complaint from
Veda Raj. "We have closed the case based on the post-mortem report. We had
also sought a second opinion from the medical board at Victoria Hospital. Based
on the experts' report we came to a conclusion. But we would definitely help
him if he goes for another appeal on the post-mortem report," the Hassan
SP said.
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