UP: Murdered girl's parents demand CBI probe

Parents of the girl murdered inside a police station in Lakhimpur on Wednesday demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the incident, hours after Chief Minister Mayawati said she has no objection to a such an inquiry if the victim's family wants it.

The father and mother of the 14-year-old girl gave in writing to local Congress Member of Parliament Zafar Ali Naqvi their request for a CBI inquiry into the alleged rape and murder of their daughter.

The victim's body was found hanging inside the Nighasan police station in the district on Friday.

The letter was forwarded to the district magistrate for further action. In his covering note, Naqvi demanded that the state government should order a CBI inquiry within 24 hours, the MP's aide Saif Ali Khan said.

The written demand came barely a couple of hours after Mayawati announced that the state government has no objection to a CBI inquiry if the girl's family members wanted one.

"If the family of the victim wants an inquiry by the CBI, my government has no objection. The only fear is that in case of a CBI inquiry, the probe may get messed up like in the Aarushi murder case," Mayawati said in Lucknow.

The victim's parents said in the letter that they have no faith in any investigating agency other than the CBI.

The copy of the letter was faxed to the chief minister and the director general of police, Khan said.

Following the written demand, District Magistrate Sameer Verma and Superintendent of Police Amit Chandra rushed to Nighasan to hold talks with the girl's family members.

An investigating team of the National Human Rights Commission, meanwhile, recorded statements of the three doctors who had conducted the first autopsy of the girl, which had ruled out murder.

The doctors who had performed the first autopsy -- A K Agarwal, S P Singh and A K Sharma -- have already been placed under suspension by the state government.

In Lucknow, Special Director General of Police Brij Lal said two policemen accused of tampering evidence were absconding after reports that they have been identified for the murder.

He again ruled out rape and said no such incident was mentioned in the second post mortem conducted by a panel of expert doctors from Lucknow.

"Unless the accused is arrested, the motive behind the crime cannot be established," he said while answering a question.