India ordered a high-level probe on Wednesday into the discovery of skulls and bones of at least 17 people, many of them children, at a house outside New Delhi, which police say is a gruesome case of serial killing.
The remains were dug up last week from the backyard of a house in Noida, an industrial town on the outskirts of the Indian capital. The incident has shocked the country and continues to make national headlines.
The victims had been reported missing by their relatives, some for as long as two years.
Police have arrested the businessman who owns the house and his domestic servant in connection with the case. There has been no word from the pair, and it was not immediately known if they had legal representation.
The high-level panel, comprising officials of the federal, home, and women and child development ministries, has been asked to report within a fortnight, a government statement said.
The panel will also look into alleged lapses by the police in investigating complaints about the missing children. Five police officers have been suspended for negligence, an official said.
Earlier this week, anger spilled over into the streets of the area of Noida where the house is located. Grieving parents and relatives stoned the building and clashed with police, accusing them of failing to find their children.
India’s National Commission for Women (NCW), a government advisory body, said it had informed Noida police in August 2005 that six young girls had gone missing from the area within the space of a couple of months.
The NCW learnt of the disappearances after being approached by a local charity.
In all six cases, the families of the girls had reported the disappearances to the police, but the police had not begun investigating, the NCW said.
NCW’s Nirmala Venkatesh said she visited the area in 2006, when the families of the missing girls complained the police had still done little to find their daughters. She also learnt that another three girls had gone missing since a previous visit.
”The police system failed. They were ignorant, they were careless,” she said. — Reuters