Ansu (27) was
the elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kuruvilla, Mangalath, Moolavattom, Kottayam.
On 15-06-2000 she was married to Ribu John Varughis of Kollentayyath,
Kidanganoor, Pathanamthita.
Ansu after her graduation had been working in an MNC in
Chennai till the time of her marriage and Ribu, was a free lance Editor.
For the Marriage on demand, a dowry of Rs. 5 lakhs and
gold ornaments worth more than 60 sovereigns were given. After their marriage she started
staying with her husband in Hyderabad.
Ribu’s earnings were not sufficient to meet the
household expenses. Financial
constraints forced them to stay till 2001 in the one-room apartment which Ribu
shared with his friend Chagla before his marriage. When Ansu secured a job, with
Deloitte, they shifted on rent to flat A-3 Banjara Saman apartments, Road
no.12, Banjara hills, Hyderabad.
Ribu was occasionally employed and Ansu’s parents gave
the major financial support as and when demanded by them. In 2003 the company sent Ansu on an
assignment to US and she returned to Hyderabad in 2004. With the money that she could save in
the US and with the additional support of her parents she bought the same Flat,
which she was staying on rent. Ribu
was actually dependent on her during these periods, as he could not get any
permanent assignment or get along with his employers.
In 2005 Ansu
joined with another MNC ZAVATTA as a SENIOR TEAM LEADER with a salary of Rs.
50,000 per month. She had
excellent rapport with her employers and colleagues. Now that she had settled with a good
income, a flat furnished by her parents, a Santro car, a kinetic scooter etc.,
she decided to get pregnant.
She consulted a Doctor and was told that nothing was
wrong with either of them and that she would conceive immediately.
Her pregnancy test was scheduled on 29-06-06.
Ansu’s father Mr. Kuruvilla was with them from the 15th
to 18th June 2006, for their 6th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY and she was very happy
during this time. She wanted the support of her parents to shift to a three
bedroom flat. On 18-06-06 evening Mr. Kuruvilla returned to Chennai to attend
the birthday of Joshua, his second daughter’s son.
On 19-06-06 morning he reached Chennai and was arranging
the transfer of shares worth Rs. 20,000 to Ribu’s name as Ansu had asked him to
do so as her wedding gift to her husband. Ansu’s
sister complained that Ansu or Ribu had not called up to wish her son on his
birthday on 19-06-06. It was the practice of Ribu and Ansu to call up and wish
on every occasion. It was a special birth day for Joshua as he just recouped
from the verge of a serious sickness. So she sent a message to Ansu’s cell
phone but there was no reply.
At about 1:00 pm Ribu called up Ansu’s father and
informed him abruptly “Ansu committed suicide by hanging the previous night”. Her father immediately contacted
Ribu’s brother, Rev. Ranji Varughis (Kidanganoor) a priest in St. Thomas Mount
Marthoma Church, and informed him. Ansu’s father along with the family and
Ribu’s brother took the 6:00 pm flight to Hyderabad and reached Ansu’s house at
around 7:30 pm.
They were told that the body was kept in the mortuary by
the police, and that he had to go to the police station to sign some papers. Immediately Ribu and his friends
rushed her father to the police station.
On the way Ansu’s father enquired with Ribu what had happened and Ribu
told him that the ‘MAIN DOOR OF THE HOUSE WAS LATCHED FROM OUTSIDE AND WAS
OPENED BY THE POLICE WHEN THEY CAME’ after receiving his complaint. This made Ansu’s
father believe that a third person had entered the house and murdered Ansu.
Ansu’s father passed on the information to the police
that an intruder had murdered Ansu. The Banjara hills Police had not recorded
his statement and made their own statements as if her father had told.
While he was in the police station, Anita, Ribu’s partner Mr. Hemant
Apte’s wife Mrs. Anita Apte informed Ansu’s mother that there was a fight between Ribu and Ansu
the previous night because of Chagla, Ribu’s childhood friend who came to their
house after Ansu’s father left for the railway station on 18.06.06.
Ansu had asked Ribu not to entertain Chagla in the house because of his
immoral character and she doubted whether Ribu had any homosexual relationship
with Chagla. Chagla’s divorce after a LOVE marriage added to her doubts.
The previous week she had reprimanded Ribu for giving
her car to Chagla without her knowledge and she took it back from him. Even
from Ansu’s earlier talk, her parents knew that Ansu did not like Chagla’s
presence in her house. Chagla also confirmed Anita’s version with Ansu’s mother
late in the night on 19.06.06 that there was a fight between Ansu and Ribu
because of him coming to the house. Later that night Ribu too admitted that he
and Ansu had fought around 9:30 pm on 18-06-06 and he had thrown the remote
control of the TV in anger. He also admitted that Ansu told ‘it is my car, my
flat and I am the lady of the house…..’as her last dialogue to him.
On 20-06-06 morning at around 10:00 am Ansu’s father was
taken to the post mortem wing of OSMANIA Hospital, but all his efforts to see the dead
body of his daughter proved futile because neither Ribu nor his friends were
revealing where the dead body was kept. No police officer was seen around. The
MRO came late and started writing the inquest report. Ansu’s father told him
that his daughter was murdered and the house was latched from the outside.
While the MRO was noting down the details, the Postmortem Doctor called the
father and informed him that the post mortem is over. Later on it was found out
that the MRO had written CONTORTED statements deliberately supporting the
culprits. Though he had recorded that somebody murdered Ansu, he had not taken
any further steps required under law due to other considerations. The MRO had
not seen the dead body, and moreover the postmortem was carried out before the
father reached the mortuary.
A doctor who introduced himself as Dr. Janardhana Reddy
informed Ansu’s father that Ansu had jumped from a height and her carotid bones
were broken and death was instantaneous. When
Ansu’s father refuted, he abruptly disappeared from the scene. Though Ansu's
father was made to acknowledge the receipt of the dead body, the dead body was
flicked away by Ribu to another mortuary at NIMS. Later it was learnt that no blood
relatives had identified her dead body except a constable who had never seen
her alive or dead.
Ansu was not made a church member and her burial posed
problems. Finally without allowing anybody to see her face, she was buried on
21-06-06. The Priest of Marthoma Church Ramachandrapuram, Hyderabad later
apologized that he had been misguided by Ribu’s brother and the Bishop to take
a burial service without any medical report or police report contrary to the
directions of the clergy manual.
Ribu was not revealing any other information as to the
cause or motive behind her death. Her
parents returned to Chennai on 22-06-06. The ACP, Mr. Rajagopal wanted to close
the case and directed Ribu to ask the parents to talk to him. The parents were
not given any details by the police about Ansu’s death, while they were in
Hyderabad from 19th to 22nd June.
On 26-06-06 they reached the Banjara hills police
station where the SI, Mr. Kishan Kumar took the father’s statement. The ACP tried to convince Ansu’s
parents that their daughter had committed suicide without any supporting
evidence, or the postmortem report. The
Banjara Hills police refused to part with most of the information and adopted a
totally negative attitude. Finally
the Women’s Commission Chairperson interfered and only then they gave some of
the relevant details. The Banjara hills Police refused to take the statement of
Ansu’s mother and manipulated the statement given by Ansu’s father. The FIR was
given by Ribu’s friend Mr. Apte who reached the scene of offence after the
police had reached there.
The Banjara hills Police conspired and made an all out
effort to fabricate/suppress/destroy evidences and removed the dead body from
the scene of the crime before the parents reached Hyderabad by flight on 19-06-06 without any
permission from the appropriate authorities, even with out an inquest report. They gave a clean chit to her husband
even after seeing the body in a kneeling position, with the hair covering her
face; her legs- one on a suitcase and the other positioned awkwardly, the
insufficient length and the unusual knot of the duppatta and the latched main
door from outside the flat while her bedroom was wide open with lights on.
The police did not even interrogate the husband though he was the only
other person in the flat ‘seen her alive last and dead first’. The police
ignored all these direct evidences and charged only section 174 CrPC violating
all principles of natural justice and overlooking the directions laid down in
the case of the death of a young lady with in 7 years of her marriage by the
Supreme Court as well as by the DGP. All efforts to locate Dr.Janardhana Reddy
who represented himself as a doctor during the post mortem, was in vain. There
was no such doctor in Osmania hospital. He was a fake doctor, planted just to
misguide Ansu’s father. The post
mortem report dated 20-06-06 was made available on 30-06-06 which clearly spelt
out an ante mortem injury of 6x7cms on the parietal occipital region of Ansu,
indicating that she was subjected to cruelty before her murder. The post mortem report concluded that
the IO should investigate and ascertain the cause of death.
The various utterances of Ribu contradicted which led to
more controversies. The various
commissions and omissions of the police, MRO and the postmortem doctors, as
conspirators, were clear indications that they were influenced and bribed
heavily and were deliberately trying to destroy all evidences of a murder. The police and some doctors tried to
give new meanings to the contusion or head injury of 6x7 cms. Ansu’s father
subsequently met the DGP who ordered a CB CID probe through WPC. The CID investigation revealed that
the motive for her murder was her properties and hence the sections were
altered on 31.08.06 from 174 CrPC to 304 B with 201 of IPC and DP Act 3 and 4.
The CID has recommended action against the MRO and the
District Collector has been requested to confirm action contemplated against
the MRO. On behalf of the Principal Secretary before the High Court the sworn
statement of the CB CID says “ The CID recommended to take necessary
disciplinary action against the concerned for procedural lapses identified in
the case vide C. No.205/C 13/WPC / CID/2006 dt 29.12.2006. The concerned are
dealt with under departmental action vide File No.L& O/ B 2/338/2007 of
Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad City.” The CID leveled more than thirty
charges against the SI and recommended him to be arrested and charge sheeted
along with the accused.
The parents of ANSU wished to bring the mortal remnants
of their departed daughter to Kerala, and give her a proper reburial in their
family vault, with all rites and rituals, which was denied to her, violating
all human rights, because, a service which was meant only for those who commit
suicide was conducted on 21-06-06, with out any proof regarding the cause of
death or getting consent from the parents of the deceased. As there is no death
certificate or post mortem report or police report to show that Ansu committed
suicide the parents questioned the rationale of the Bishop of the Marthoma
Syrian Church Rt. Rev. Theodacious for ordering a surreptitious service meant
for people who commit suicide. But no reply was forthcoming. The BHEL Marthoma
Church contrary to the sabha constitution, under instigation of the episcopa
refused to furnish the extract of the records of the church with reference to
her burial, in spite of a legal notice and her parents being members of the
Marthoma Church. It was evident that the Bishop was a party to the criminal
conspiracy at the behest of the brother of accused, Rev. Renji Varughis. Both
conveniently forgot the Christian dogmas and doctrines and the oath they took
at the time of their ordination. They acted against the apostolic tradition,
constitutional episcopacy and evangelical doctrine of the Marthoma Sabha.
Finally the ego of the bishop brought the ignominy of being questioned by CBI
and his secretary achen had to tell lies to CBI.
The mental agony imparted by these revelations was so great that the
parents of Ansu were compelled to approach the Human Rights Commission against
their church and Bishop. The church could not produce any Death certificate or
postmortem certificate before the Human Rights Commission. Finally they
submitted a manipulated copy of the death register which did not mention that a
service meant for people who commit suicide was taken or any reference to the
exhumation or re postmortem on 08.08.06.
The RE-POSTMORTEM carried out on her body revealed that all her internal
organs were destroyed without sending them for forensic tests. Even the dress
that she was wearing at the time of her death was destroyed leaving no clue to
ascertain the cause of death.
The post mortem and repost mortem doctors differed in
their views. AllMS was requested to look into the veracity of the postmortem
reports and interpret them based on scientific facts. The negligence and
dereliction of various government agencies reveal how justice is denied to the
victim of dowry death while her husband continues to enjoy the property
acquired by her hard toil. He banished her from the face of earth to take
possession of her assets. On 4th December 2006 after about 6 months, Ribu was
arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Apparently the prosecution
underestimated their influence and Ribu got bail. In January 2007 the DSP- IO-CID , Dr. Vittal submitted his FINAL
INVESTIGATION REPORT (FAR). This indicted Ribu, Chagla, the SI, MRO etc. as accused under
section 302, 304 B, 201 of IPC. It also recommended severe action against the
erring doctors also. Subsequently, Dr.
Vittal was suspended which he
alleged as the vendetta of the ADGP, CID who interfered with the administration
of justice supporting the culprits.
On 09.08.07 the Addl. DGP submitted before the State Human Rights
Commission that Ansu was murdered for her properties, her flat, her car, gold
and other personal belongings which Ribu is still keeping with him.
According to the DGP “It
is also established that the accused caused disappearance of evidence by
creating a scene to make believe others that the death of the deceased is a
suicidal one with an intention to escape from legal punishment. In this case the draft charge sheet is
under scrutiny. The
circumstantial evidence collected is sufficient to prove the guilt of accused
Ribu.”
When the Charge sheet was delayed Kuruvilla approached
the AP High Court. The CB CID to avoid the wrath and censure of the High Court
suddenly wanted to conduct a Narco Analysis on Ribu. Though the Lower Court
ordered to conduct it Ribu obtained a stay and both writs are pending with the
High Court.
It took almost 6 months for AIIMS to release their
report, re-establishing the HEAD INJURY. But the new IO, DSP CID Mr. Pawar
because of the influence of the culprits deliberately manipulated the AIIMS opinion
without forwarding the re postmortem final report and other key evidences to
AIIMS in spite of a court order to forward both post mortem reports. This
ignoble action of the IO, defeated the very purpose of an expert opinion from
AIIMS and it proved the allegation of Dr. Vittal that there was an effort to
hush up the case at the top level. Because
of this manipulation the parents lost their confidence in the AP police and
approached the Chief Minister to transfer the case to CBI. On 24th March 2008 the
notification was issued. In the central ministry the file was not traceable for
3 months. Finally the CBI Chennai Spl . Crime Branch took over the files from
AP police on 04.10.08.
All investigations established Ansu’s death as homicide at the fag end of
their investigation. The SHRC directed the Collector Rangareddy to permit the
father to take custody of the mortal remnants by dictating its order on
03.03.09.( copy yet to receive) The Metropolitan of the Marthoma Church
permitted the reburial of the mortal remnants of Ansu at her paternal church at
Kottayam.
Now, one of their struggles for 40 months was over. They obtained
permissions from the court, the CBI, the church and other authorities to rebury
the mortal remnants of Ansu at Kottayam and at last Ansu was reburied with all
dignity and honour in their family vault atJerusalem Marthoma Church, Kottayam
on November 1st 2009 in the presence of all her relatives and friends.
This is First time in the history of the Marthoma Sabha
a reburial was done rectifying a wrong done earlier by the church, Subsequently Chagla the friend of Ribu was arrested by
CBI and was in judicial custody for about 50 days. Presently he was let off on
bail.
The enquiry was completed by CBI, and the charge sheet was forwarded to their
director’s office at Delhi for approval. The anxious parents and relatives are
waiting to know finally the outcome of CBI’s investigation.
JUSTICE FOR ANSU IS NOT VERY FAR
On 15th July 2010, on her birthday, the CBI filed the charge sheet
against Ribu and his accomplice Chagla under IPC.302 for COLD BLOODED MURDER
along with section 325- grievous hurt, 120B conspiracy and 201- supression of
evidence.
The 14th court of Nampally- Hyderabad will now start the trial. The
Police Officers who tried to subvert justice were recommended for stringent
punishment by CBI at Govt: level.
Though Ansu’s parents are vindicated, a journey fraught with challenges
is still ahead. They can still hear her voice pleading, “I want to live”. Hope the ray of hope for justice is not a mirage any more.
For the parents of ANSU justice delayed is not justice
denied. They still believe:-‘Satyameva Jayathe’
