Bhubaneswar, Dec. 9: The state home department has asked the crime branch to take up investigation of the alleged rape and murder of a blind minor girl of Beladala village in Puri district in June.

In a letter to the inspector general (crime), the home department has requested for a crime branch probe into the incident after the father of the 12-year-old victim submitted a petition to the chief minister urging him to ensure impartial investigation into the case.

“As the matter is sensitive in nature, it is requested that crime branch may take up the investigation and hire a special public prosecutor for this case,” said the letter.

The father of the victim, a rickshaw-puller, had demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. “The police did not conduct the investigation properly. Circumstantial evidence, including bloodstains, was washed away in the rain on the night of the incident. A proper forensic investigation was also not done,” the father said.

Earlier, the police had arrested taxi driver Banamali Barik, who used to visit the victim’s house regularly.

“The police had already submitted the chargesheet and trial has already started,” said Puri superintendent of police Anup Kumar Sahoo.

The incident took place when the victim, a Class V student of a Bhubaneswar-based school for the blind, had been to her village for summer vacation. The police had found her body in a nearby forest on the Puri-Konark marine drive.

Women activists and political parties have been demanding a CBI probe.