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Ambala girls die mysteriously |
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The Indian express, March 24, 2000 Three Ambala girls die mysteriously in city HARPREET BAJWA & VISHNU DUTT CHANDIGARH/ AMBALA, MARCH 23: Three Ambala girls, Chandani, Dipali and Chetna, died under mysterious circumstances here late last night. While the parents and relatives allege that they were raped and murdered, the Chandigarh Police say they committed suicide by consuming poison. The body of Chandani was cremated at Ambala in the evening. Chandani and Dipali, close friends and neighbours, were students of Dev Samaj College, while Chetna was a student of PKR Jain School. They had come to Chandigarh last evening. Chandani and Dipali were taking their annual exams while Chetna had finished hers. The three had gone out to get milk around 5.30 p.m. yesterday but never returned. Ashok Vasudeva, a relative of one of the girls, said they had never gone out in the city before. Sources say the girls reached the city in the evening and went to the Indian Tourist Bungalow in Sector 18 on a three-wheeler at around 8 p.m. However, the motel records the time at 8.10 p.m. and the names given in the register are Simran Luthra, Chahat and Muskan, all residents of Panipat. The girls were reportedly carrying a bag containing clothes and other items. They were allotted room number 102. Waiter Kartar Singh told The Indian Express that on entering the room, they ordered cold drinks and gave him Rs 50. He got them a one-litre Mirinda bottle costing Rs 40, and the girls told him to keep the change. Kartar said after some time he heard a noise from the room and informed manager Surjit Singh, who went and knocked on the door. When there was no response, it was broken open; the girls were found in poor condition and vomiting. Subash Narang, owner of the building, said the motel manager called him up at around 11 p.m. saying that three girls had consumed some poisonous substance. He rushed with a friend and relative to the motel, put two girls in his car and rushed them to the PGI. Motel owner Paras Ram Gupta took one girl to the General Hospital. While one of them died on the way, the other died at PGI. Chandani who had been rushed to the General Hospital by Paras Ram Gupta, Sanjeev and Balwinder in their car, too died around 8 a.m. today. Sources added that the girls had vomited in the room and in the bathroom. The police suspect that the girls consumed celphos as these poisonous tablets were found in their bag and from the room. A bidi and a match box were also found in the room. Incidentally, the door had a small peephole. UT Senior Superintendent of Police Parag Jain, who visited the spot, told ENS that the police suspected suicide. "Investigations are on; only after that will we be able to reach a definite conclusion. No case has been registered so far. If the parents have any doubt and want to lodge a complaint, we will definitely entertain it and register a case. The rooms have been sealed and forensic experts will visit the place tomorrow," the SSP added. However, the relatives and parents allege that the police are hushing up the matter. They alleged that the bodies had been sent for post-mortem but the police never informed the area SDM; the parents and relatives informed the SDM in the morning. "Our children were raped and murdered. They never committed suicide. They were good in studies. If at all they wanted to end their lives, why should they have come to Chandigarh?" asked one distraught relative. Parents demand probe into death of girls The Tribune, March 25, 2000 From Rahul Das Tribune News Service AMBALA,, March 24 — Parents of two of the three girls who were found dead in Chandigarh have demanded a complete inquiry into the incident, while an anguished parent has threatened to do a chakka jam "if the culprit involved" are not nabbed by tomorrow. Mr Jai Singh, father of Chandni, said that they were planning to block traffic on GT road if the persons who were involved in the incident are not caught. "We are going to do chakka jam to press for our demand for getting justice," he said. "We suspect that the guest house is involved in some way," he added. He alleged that his daughter Chandni had not been given adequate medical treatment "as she was alive for about nine hours and still the doctors failed to save her life. My daughter kept asking for water and the doctors told us not to give her anything." Mr Jai Singh, who is a resident of Goverdhan Nagar, is not suspecting the involvement of any Ambala based person in the incident. "My daughter had never left the city and there is no reason why she would decide to go to Chandigarh." The father of Deepali, Mr Om Prakash Naula, said that he had not made any demand for an inquiry. "My daughter is gone. For whom will I demand the inquiry. If she had been alive today, I would have tried to find out the reason for the incident but she is no more and she was consigned to flames today." A distressed Mr Naula, who works as station superintendent near Jallandhar, said "my daughter was like a flower. Her death has brought enough tension and I don't want additional tension of an inquiry." The death of my daughter is a lifelong sadness. The sequence of events is not clear to us and there are a number of unanswered questions in our mind, Mr Naula said. A pall of gloom had descended at adjoining house numbers 392 and 392 A in Model Town in Ambala City. In the morning, a large number of people had turned up at Model Town when the bodies were being taken for cremation. The locals demanded that a proper inquiry should be conducted by the police to ensure that if any person is involved in the incident, he should not go scot-free. Chetna's father, Mr Gulshan Kumar, while demanding a complete inquiry, said that they had met senior police officers and the Chief Minister yesterday. "The CM assured us that investigations will be undertaken into the incident," he said. Mr Kumar said "We must know why my daughter, who was good in studies, took this extreme step. She was a normal child and there is no reason for her to commit suicide." He pointed out that the three girls had food at his residence at about 5 pm before they left to fetch milk from a nearby dairy. "We will be going to Chandigarh tomorrow and meet the officials concerned so that we know exactly what happened with my daughter and why she died at the rest house in Chandigarh," he said. When this reporter met the milkman, Mr Faqir Chand, he said that the girl did come to get milk as was the usual routine. "She left the milkcan here. The only thing different was that she said that I should leave the milk can back home. Later, we gave the milk can to a neighbour," he said. Mr Faqir Chand said that his customers leave the milk can and later collect it. "She, however, said that I should have the milk can send back home," he recalled. A teacher at PKR Jain school said that Chetna was a good student and she had secured a first division in her board examinations. While Deepali, who was a student of Dev Samaj College, had got a second division in the board examinations, Chandni had got compartment in English. |
