By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Will the investigation into the case of murder of a Laban woman go the manner in which the case of another woman who was murdered below the Shillong Club a year ago and similar other pending cases were handled?
Reports to verify whether the 42-year-old Debjani Khan was raped before she was murdered are yet to be known as police are still awaiting the post mortem reports.
Refusing to divulge the progress of the investigation, a senior police official said, “We cannot divulge any information at present but we can say that the investigation is progressing.”
Khan’s body was recovered on Monday evening from her residence in Laban and police believe that she had been murdered.
Khan who used to stay alone in her house was reported missing on Saturday after her house was found locked.
Murders of women have become frequent in the State over the past few years but the irony is that police are finding it difficult to crack the cases and arrest the culprits.
On May 8, a 68-year-old woman and her 28-year-old daughter were found murdered inside their house at Umsalait village in West Jaintia Hills.
Earlier on June 1, 2012, the body of a 50-year-old woman hailing from Mawprem locality of Shillong was recovered from the ground floor of the Assam-type house of the Rotary Club on the Shillong Club premises.
Another woman’s body, whose face had been mutilated, was recovered on August 17, 2012, from Mawkham tourist view point near Mawkajem village on the Shillong-Dawki road. She had gone missing the previous day.
Again on August 17, 2012, the naked body of another woman identified as Pinky Rai (22), wife of Pappu Rai was recovered from Sonapani here. Rai, hailing from Demthring locality of Shillong went missing with her baby the previous day. Police are yet to locate the baby.
Five years after the sensational rape and murder of 25-year-old Darihun Lyngwi on June 12, 2008, police are still clueless on the perpetrators of the crime.
Police are finding it difficult to crack the crime against women since most of the cases are pending expert opinion from the State Forensic Science Lab (FSL).
According to sources, the State FSL does not have the equipments and experts to speed up investigation into the cases. Moreover, Meghalaya does not have any facility to carry out DNA testing which also adds to the delay.