Rupali Patil was burnt alive allegedly by Neeraj and his friend Yogendra (14) on October 4, 1998. Neeraj was allegedly having an affair with Rupali's friend Supriya Sawant. Rupali reportedly blew the whistle on the affair to Supriya's mother, who then confronted her daughter. When Supriya broke off her relationship with Neeraj, he allegedly took his revenge on Rupali by setting her on fire. Supriya, who was also held for instigating Neeraj to commit the crime and later released on bail, has already beenrusticated from her school. Supriya's parents said the school authorities told them that Supriya would be a ``bad influence'' on the other children. Now, Parmar fears that Neeraj and Yogendra - accused as an accomplice - will also be dismissed. The boys are in the ninth.

While Neeraj refused to speak, saying his father would do the talking for him, Parmar maintained, ``My son has been through hell for no fault of his.'' The entire issue of Rupali's killing was politicised to such an extent that getting anybody implicated became important for the police, he alleged. ``Now that my son is out on bail after a three-and-a-half month long struggle, our efforts will focus entirely on getting him absolved of charges,'' he told Express Newsline.

Parmar refused to elaborate on who he thought the real killers were. ``How do you think my son will move about now? Already, a huge crowd follows us wherever we go,'' he lamented.

And Yogendra Rao's father banged the door on this reporter's face, saying ``What's leftto be said or done?''