Lovely Varughese, the mother of Pravin Varughese, 19, a student at the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, filed a civil suit against Gaege Bethune, 22, the last person to see Pravin alive, the City of Carbondale and Police Chief Jodi O’Guinn demanding compensation in excess of $1 million (Rs 6 crore) from each.
“It is not about the money. We filed the suit to find out the truth about what happened to Pravin. They will have to answer in court,” Lovely told India Abroad.
So far the police has not filed a criminal case in Pravin’s mysterious death on the night of February 12, when he went missing. His body was found in the woods several days later.
Bethune claimed he had given Pravin a lift in his vehicle. On the way, they quarrelled and Pravin ran away to the woods and died of hypothermia, the police claimed.
A dash cam video obtained by NBC 5 showed a state trooper spotting an empty pickup parked on the side of the road nearby that night. Bethune was shown walking.
According to police reports, he told the trooper that, he offered a man a ride and asked for gas money, but the man punched him and ran into the woods.
The trooper saw a mark on Bethune’s face and conducted a brief search with a flashlight, finding no sign of Varughese.
The autopsy by the Jackson County coroner said Pravin had died of hypothermia. Pravin’s family in Morton Grove, Chicago, commissioned another autopsy, which found that he had died of blunt force trauma. There were no traces of alcohol or drugs in his system.
The lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit in Jackson County claims Bethune ‘was present at the time of Pravin’s death and caused or contributed to his death.’
Lovely said, “He has to tell us the truth. We waited six months for him to come out and tell us what really happened.”
The suit also noted that O’Guinn individually and as Carbondale chief of police was aware of the danger posed to Pravin, but ‘ignored the missing person incident as ‘it’s just what college kids do; they go missing for several days.’
The suit also noted that the Chicago coroner who examined Pravin’s body reported that he could have lived up to another 24 hours since the time of the incident around 1 am February 13, and that a proper search would have located and saved him.
Image: Pravin Varughese's mother Lovely Varughese
