Mishel Shaji case: Attempt to make it suicide, says father

Kochi: As the probe into mysterious death of CA student Mishel Shaji entered 90th day on Monday, her father alleged that there was a deliberate attempt to close the case as “suicide” and that a “high-level political intervention” is being made. “The Crime Branch officials said a conclusion is yet to be made and the probe is far from over. However, a deliberate attempt is being made, especially through social media, to term the case as ‘closed’ and that the probe team concluded it as a case of ‘suicide’,” said Shaji Varghese.

He expressed suspicion over Cronin Alexander, earlier arrested for abetment to suicide and POCSO charges and then released on bail,  promptly admitting that the charges against him “would warrant a maximum punishment of imprisonment upto six months only”. “Many of our doubts including the marks found on both sides of her nose and both shoulders upon finding her body near Ernakulam wharf and the water not fully entering into her lungs and other body parts are yet to be answered properly,” he told reporters.

The 18-year-old girl, a native of Elanji, Periyapuram, Piravom, was pursuing a professional course and staying at Kacheripaddy to study Chartered Accountancy course. She left the hostel on March 5 evening to offer prayers at the Kaloor church. However, there was no information about her after that. Her body was found from premises of the Ernakulam wharf at 8.45 pm the next day. Meanwhile, the Crime Branch officials said the probe is still progressing and that they are attempting to find and interrogate two youths, caught in CCTV images of a church at Kaloor and seen following her while she comes out after offering prayers hours before she had gone missing.