Kerala teen’s autopsy suggests no foul play; probe on: police

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like The death of a 15-year-old girl from Kerala who had gone missing during a trip to Chikkamagaluru has been attributed to injuries from a fall, with a postmortem examination finding no abnormalities, officials said on Monday. SrinandaAccording to the report, the cause of death was a severe injury to the right side of the head. The examination also recorded multiple fractures and injuries across the body, all consistent with a fall from a height. “A post-mortem examination was conducted by a team of two surgeons at the district hospital in Chikkamagaluru district on Friday evening, and the entire process was videotaped under the supervision of senior officials. The examination was conducted by doctors Lohit and Jayalakshmi,” said an officer familiar with the development. The girl, Srinanda, who was from Kadambajipuram in Palakkad district, had travelled to Karnataka with a group of around 40 relatives. She was reported missing at around 5.35am on Tuesday evening. Her body was found on the third day of a search operation, nearly 2,000 feet deep in a valley near Baba Budhangiri, close to the waterfalls. Police said the location where the body was found is close to the point where she went missing and is accessible through a single barricaded route. During the investigation, officials found that Srinanda had been on a phone call for about 17 minutes shortly before she disappeared, including a 15-minute conversation with a friend. While police are treating the case as a suspected accidental fall, the girl’s family has expressed doubts, and the investigation is continuing from multiple angles.