Thanjavur school girl death: CBI team begins probe at school

Thanjavur (TN), Feb 21: The CBI on Monday launched its probe into the death of a 17-year-old school girl, allegedly by suicide, amid charges she was forced to convert to Christianity.

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team arrived on Monday at Michaelpatti village near Thirukattupalli and enquired the authorities of the missionary school where the teenage girl was studying. The girl hailed from Vadugapalayam hamlet in Ariyalur district.

The team of CBI officials led by Vidya Jayant Kulkarni, an IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre and appointed as Joint Director in November last year, reached Michaelpatti in the afternoon and commenced their investigation by interrogating the school and hostel authorities and inspecting the school and hostel premises, police said.

The investigation into the cause of death was transferred to the CBI, following a plea by the parents of the deceased girl in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court for a central probe. On January 16, the Thirukattupalli police had booked a case under the Juvenile Justice Act and Indian Penal Code Sections 75 (punishment for cruelty to child), Section 305 (abetment of suicide of child or insane person), and Section 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other Imprisonments).

The police arrested the 67-year-old hostel warden of the school. Subsequently, after the death of the girl on January 19, the case took a different turn with charges that she had been forced to end her life after attempts at forcible conversion by the school. PTI COR HDA HDA