Kothamangalam suicide: Woman's family seeks NIA probe, claims she's victim of attempted forced conversion
This comes even as Ernakulam rural police have formed a nine-member special investigation team, led by Muvattupuzha DSP, to investigate her death.
Her boyfriend, Rameez (24), who was arrested on Monday, is in judicial custody and the investigation team is expected to seek his custody soon.
The woman's mother has written to CM Pinarayi Vijayan and state police chief demanding an NIA probe. In the letter, she raised suspicion that her daughter was the victim of an attempted forced conversion by the accused.
She alleged that her daughter was confined in the accused's house by him and his family, where she was physically assaulted. She also claimed that the charges invoked by police against Rameez were "not strong".
The Kothamangalam police have booked the accused under Sections 69 (sexual intercourse by employing deceitful means, etc.) and 108 (abetment of suicide) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), after a friend of the deceased corroborated that the accused had slapped her.
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The possible involvement of more persons, including a friend mentioned in the victim's suicide note, is under investigation. Police are also trying to track down additional witnesses to record their statements. Police are yet to serve summons to Rameez's parents to question them, amid demands to book them for abetment.
Meanwhile, police sources said the autopsy report confirmed hanging as the cause of death and also substantiated charges under Section 69 of BNS.
However, the investigation team maintains that, so far, evidence points to a love affair gone sour rather than a concerted effort to convert religion. Police said the duo were batchmates at a college in Aluva and had decided to marry, but Rameez recently backtracked and even blocked her on WhatsApp.
The woman was found hanging in her house in Kothamangalam on Saturday. Police recovered a suicide note, presumably written by the victim, containing serious accusations that the accused compelled her to convert and subjected her to cruelty.
Meanwhile, the Syro-Malabar Church's media commission took up the issue, claiming in a Facebook post that the "real religious conversion" was happening in Kerala, not in Chhattisgarh. It added that it was unfortunate young women still could not identify religious extremists who exploit pure emotions like love to cheat. The commission also urged political outfits to oppose all practices that go against secularism.
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