More body parts found in India's house of horrors
Pastor Dale Morgan
More body parts found in India's house of horrors*
Reuters
Monday, January 15, 2007; 2:21 PM
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Detectives investigating the murders of 19 people
-- mostly children -- near a house on the outskirts of New Delhi said
late on Monday a new search had found more than 40 polythene bags filled
with body parts.
In a case which has shocked and horrified India, human remains were dug
up last month from the backyard and drain of a rich, well-connected
businessman's house in Noida, a satellite of the Indian capital.
The owner of the house was arrested along with his servant on suspicion
of kidnapping, rape and murder. They have not been charged.
"Biomaterials packed in more than 40 polythene bags have been recovered
from the drain in front of the house of the accused persons," said a
statement from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
"In addition, pieces of human bones have been recovered ... the seized
materials have been sent to the laboratory for post mortem,
individualization and DNA extraction."
The investigation into the murders was taken over by the CBI five days
ago after local police were accused by parents of ignoring reports about
their missing children -- some of whom disappeared more than two years ago.
Six policemen have been sacked and three suspended, accused of
negligence in handling the case.
The CBI said since taking over, they had registered 19 cases relating to
the kidnapping, rape and murder of children and women. Some 41 people
have been reported missing from the area.
All of the victims and those still reported missing come from
impoverished families, many of whom are migrant laborers, who say their
complaints by police were not taken seriously because they are poor.
CBI officials were cautious to suggest that the new discovery meant the
death toll from killings suspected to have been committed over the past
two to three years was higher.
"It's difficult for us to say that the new find means there are more
people that have been murdered as the parts could belong to the 19 cases
already known about," said a CBI official, who refused to be named.
"We can't say for sure until all the DNA and forensic tests have been made."
Over the past few days, CBI forensic teams have been inspecting in and
around the lavish two-story house and excavators have been digging up
drains where investigators believe the majority of the cut up bodies
were stuffed.
The CBI said forensic tests of all the skeletal remains discovered would
help link them to the missing people and that relatives of the missing
and other connected witnesses were being questioned to establish the
sequence of events.