The story of Shilpi Jain.. and her "suicide"

From my old diary dated sometime in 1999 ..

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It is pathetic to see how short lived our memory is and how quickly we forget and forgive the criminals. If you are from Bihar, let me ask you this- Do you remember the infamous Shilpi-Gautam murder case of 1999 ? I guess not. Here is the reminder ..

On 3rd July 1999, the dead bodies of Shilpi Jain and Gautam Singh were found in a White Maruti Zen in the garage of MLA Quarter number 12 under the Gandhi Maidan Police Station, Patna. Shilpi was the daughter of Ujjwal Kumar Jain, owner of Kamla Stores, Patna. Gautam was an office bearer of thr ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal and a partner of MLA Sadhu Yadav, brother in law of Laloo Yadav, in the Silver Oak restaurent located at Fraser Road, Patna. It is also alleged that Gautam's father, Mr. B.N. Singh played a key role in laundering the money of the famous Fodder scam to Swiss banks through hawala. The couple were reported to be missing for last 7-8 hours.

The investigation was held in a shabby manner from the begining. Even before the police could arrive, supporters of a certain politician came at the spot and started agitating, it was not known how they got to know about the incident. The car along with the dead bodies was actually driven to the police station by a constable and later no finger prints could be found on the steering wheel.

This was just the begining. From the starting, the police was claiming that the deaths happened as a result of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, completely disregarding the scratches and "shoe marks" on the victims' bodies. Later when the visra report reveled that Shilpi and Gautam had been poisoned with lethal Aluminum XXXXX, the police termed it a sucide case.
The then City SP Mr. Bhatia could not explain why the post mortem report said that semen samples of more than one person were found from Shilpi's body.

Rumors were rife in Patna that the incident actually happened on 2nd July 1999, not at the Gandhi Maidan quarter but at the Valmi premises, and the bodies were brought there by certain influential people.

The case was finally handed over to CBI. The vaginal fluid of Shilpi was sent to Hyderabad for DNA test. However blood sample of a "high profile youth leader" of RJD coudnot be obtained as the person concerned "refused to cooperate". This is how law in India works, one for common people and different for those in power.

The DNA report confirmed that Shilpi was raped by more than one person before she died. Hoever the identity of these persons was not reveled. After long court proceedings, the accused got a clean chit from the court and the matter became another suicide case.

Incidently, the brother of Shilpi Jain was kidnapped a few years later when he was trying to get the case reopened. As a result the case results shut till now.
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So this is the story of Shilpi Jain, a bubbly, intelligent and beautiful girl who became just another statistics in the suicide records. We will never be able to know whether she really committed suicide or was murdered; and if she was murdered, when will her culprits be booked under the law. The wait seems to go on forever.


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Some news articles related to this sad story:

1. Shilpi, Gautam committed suicide: CBI

2. New turn in Shilpi case

3. Shilpi Jain's brother kidnapped

4. State in anarchy

5. Sadhu Yadav denies links with deaths