What is shocking in the entire episode of Kavita’s disappearance and her subsequent killing, as admitted by the prime accused in police custody, is how the Bulandshahr and Meerut police passed the buck for two months, refusing to act on the ground that the crime happened in the “other’s” jurisdiction.

In fact, one of the accused — Yogesh — is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since November 30 after he was arrested in Delhi in a separate case. For the record, one UP inspector has been suspended for the “goof-up”, says SSP Meerut Navniet Sekera.

Here are the facts:

• On her way to Meerut from her home in Siana in Bulandshahr on October 23 evening, Kavita went missing. A temporary lecturer at Chaudhary Charan Singh University in Meerut, she had taken a state roadways bus to Meerut. Police now say she was abducted on the way by Ravindra Pradhan and three others on the behest of a former minister.

• SSP Sekera says she was murdered on October 24 in Bulandshahr, her body thrown in a river near Dadri. Meanwhile, Kavita’s family gets no response after dialing on her mobile. They reach her hostel in Meerut but find her room locked.

• After being sent away many times by the police, Siana police station in Bulandshahr finally accepts a complaint from Kavita’s brother on November 1. The complaint says Kavita has been kidnapped and there is a danger to her life. Police search her hostel room, find three letters written by her in which she apprehends threat to her life from Pradhan.

... contd.