PALAKKAD: The CBI team that investigated the Walayar case submitted the charge sheet to the POCSO court in Palakkad on Monday. The charge sheet stated that the two minor girls committed suicide. It also named as accused the same four persons who were found culprits by the police. As per the charge sheet, the girls committed suicide after being constantly subjected to sexual abuse by the accused. Cheriya Madhu, Valiya Madhu and Shibu were named the accused in the death of the elder child. Valiya Madhu and a minor boy were named accused in the death of the younger girl.

The charge sheet was filed by Thiruvananthapuram CBI unit DYSP Ananthakrishnan. The incident took place in 2017. The case that was investigated by the local police was later handed over to the Crime Branch. Police had not investigated the cause of death. The CBI has recorded the confidential statements of the girls' mother and stepfather.

Constant sexual abuse
The 13-year-old elder girl was sexually abused several times from April 2016 until her death in January 2017. She was abused at her house, her aunt's house and the house of an accused. She had told her friend that she had wounds and pus on her body and that she was scared to tell her mother.

It was the younger girl who first saw her sister hanging inside the house. Though she had said that she saw two people, with their faces covered, running away from the house, the police did not mention this in their charge sheet. The probe team did not find any traces of violence, injuries, signs of homicide and body fluids on the body. Thus, they concluded that it was a suicide.

Dummy test for younger child

It was found that the nine-year-old had a strong suicidal tendency. As per rumours, the younger child used to point at her sister's photo and say that she would go the same way. The probe team even did a dummy test to see if a nine-year-old girl could tie the rope on the ceiling. The bed was placed on top of a 16 cm block made of roof tiles. It is believed that girl tied the rope on the ceiling by getting on a chair placed on top of the bed. According to the person who first found the body, the child's foot did not touch the chair. There was a distance of 20 cm between the foot and the chair. This was confirmed in the dummy test as well as in subsequent tests by experts in the forensic science lab. The culprits managed to escape as the police had not accurately recorded these figures.

Police destroyed evidence
SI Chacko, who first investigated the case, had made serious lapses. He destroyed evidence and failed to record the measurements properly. No protection was offered to the second child who gave a statement after the death of the elder child. The two public prosecutors argued the case without studying the facts. The charge sheet stated that the two were not able to line up the evidence.