Army jawan Mahendra Mahto, accused of murdering his wife in Ranchi last year, has moved Jharkhand High Court for bail even as police have allegedly failed to arrest others involved in the crime.
Justice Ananda Sen, hearing the bail plea on Friday, directed the public prosecutor to submit the case diary and screen the chargesheet to find loopholes, said Ashok Kumar Yadav, the lawyer hired by the victim's family.
Mahendra had killed wife Shila at their Mesra home on July 4 last year. He had slit her throat, ankle, wrist, legs and wounded her private parts, and then packed the body in a steel trunk.
Police from BIT-Mesra outpost later arrested him and made him undergo a polygraph test since he did not divulge the motive behind the gruesome murder during interrogations.
The lie detector test, which was conducted by the Directorate of Forensic Science, Gujarat, and the formal report of which reached Ranchi police in January this year, added new angles to the case.
According to sources, Mahendra was subjected to 16 questions - right from his relationship with Shila, his activities before, during and after the murder, motive behind the killing and his associates in the crime - during the polygraph test.
"The doubtful responses given by Mahendra indicated that he was helped by someone (probably one of his family members) in the killing. The responses also pointed to a money angle," a police source said quoting a section of the polygraph report.
Citing the report, Shila's family members alleged that despite polygraph report suggesting involvement of more than one person, police did nothing to identify the other perpetrators.
Lilawati Devi, younger sister of the deceased woman, has alleged that the jawan's elder brothers Babulal Mahto and Agamlal Mahto, and friend Sakund Mahto were also involved in the crime.
"On July 5 (last year), when Shila's two minor sons - Shivam Kumar (11) and Satyam (6) - informed me that their mother was missing, we started a frantic search. But, Babulal asked me not to inform police. We did not know that she had already been murdered and the body was kept inside the house. Babulal had even stopped us from going inside the room. After the murder, Mahendra had taken shelter at the residence of Sakund in Ormanjhi. We have been requesting police to question Babulal and the others, but in vain," she alleged.
"Mahendra had been in relationship with several girls, including one Saraswati, even after marriage, and wanted to get rid of Shila," she added.
Lilawati, along with her brother Kalicharan, had gone to meet Ranchi SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi to seek justice last week, but they could not meet him and returned empty-handed.
Lawyer Ashok Kumar said: "Shila had an insurance worth Rs 35 lakh. The police in the chargesheet have maintained money and Mahendra's desire for remarriage as the reasons behind the murder. These were confirmed by the polygraph test, which is admissible before court. Surprisingly, police ignored the conclusive part of the report that indicates involvement of more than one person. Further, the murder weapon has not been recovered yet."
SSP Dwivedi said he was not fully aware of the case. "I will seek a detailed report from the police station."
