Kerala: Special team to probe godman genital mutilation case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Crime branch ADGP Tomin Thachankary has constituted a special team under Thiruvananthapuram superintendent A Shanavas to conduct further investigation into the bobbitisation case of Kannammoola, in which a young law student chopped off the genitals of a godman, Swami Gangesananda Theerthapadhar while resisting an alleged sexual abuse.
Thachankary said that further investigation will focus on 36 key points which he has handed to the investigation team.
The list includes factors that the earlier probes by local police as well as crime branch seemed to have overlooked. IG S Sreejith has been directed to personally monitor the new probe.
The ADGP decided to launch a further investigation after he found the initial probe was unsatisfactory.
The initial probe focused on the allegations in the first information statement given by the young woman.
Though she changed that statement before the court several times and alleged that there was a larger conspiracy involved in the case, the police probe went ahead in the direction of rape bid.
Gangesananda had alleged that the incident was a part of a conspiracy hatched by his former disciple Ayyappadas. The crime branch too had found out that the woman had searched for and watched bobbitisation videos on her phone two months before the incident.
The incident pertaining to the case took place on the night of May 2017. The family of the woman were devotees of Gangesananda and the incident occurred when he visited her residence.