CBI tightens noose around Walayar sisters' parents, seeks to reopen 3 cases

TIGHTENING the noose around the parents of the Walayar sisters, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has moved the special court in Ernakulam seeking permission to reopen three cases and further investigate their role in abetting the minors' sexual abuse and alleged suicide—less than two months apart—in 2017.

- P RAMDAS @Kochi

The court's approval will make them an accused in three additional cases. The central investigating agency recently filed six chargesheets implicating the mother and her husband—the stepfather of the elder child—as additional accused in each case.

Two of the accused in the three cases—Pradeep Kumar, a close associate of the parents, and Madhu M alias Kutty Madhu, a cousin of the victims—died by suicide during trial in various courts. In its plea, the CBI said that reopening the cases is essential to file three supplementary chargesheets against the parents. It asserted that the two played an active role in abetting and facilitating the crime, as well as engaging in wilful negligence as parents—offences punishable under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act.