Lokayukta orders police to probe death of Jain girl Aradhana Samdariya

Hyderabad: The Lokayukta on Thursday ordered the north zone deputy commissioner of police to inquire into the death of Aradhana Samdariya after fasting for 68 days and submit a report by October 24.

Balala Hakkula Sangham, an NGO, had filed a petition with the Lokayukta seeking a direction to the police to book Aradhana’s parents and religious gurus for murder under IPC Section 302.

Asked about the Lokayukta order, a police official said a case had been booked and inquiry was on. There was no technical evidence in the case and police was collecting circumstantial evidence to prove the case against Aradhana’s parents.

“They have agreed that she fasted for 68 days. The medical certificate says she died of cardiac arrest. What lead to cardiac arrest needs to be probed. All her family members were aware of what happened. All these aspects will be presented as evidence,” Mahanakali ACP S. Gangadhar said.

Other senior police officials said the case could not be altered to murder. After taking legal opinion, a case of culpable homicide had been booked, they said. Arrests would be based on the outcome of the investigation and the evidence collected, they said.

Earlier the Market police had registered a case on the parents for culpable homicide and under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 for wilful neglect of a child causing unnecessary mental or physical suffering after the NGO lodged a complaint.

Aradhana, 13, a student of St Francis High School at Secunderabad, was the elder daughter of Mr Laxmichand Samdariya, a jewellery merchant from Pot Market.

She died on October 4, two days after breaking her 68-day fast, which was a part of the Charturmas, the time considered holy by Jains.