Police groping in the dark

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/KOTTARAKARA: The police team probing into the case relating to the brutal attack on RVHSS teacher Krishnakumar, is groping in the dark as the team is yet to trace the white Alto car that was seen speeding away from the scene at Valakom where the teacher was found lying on the roadside.  Meanwhile, the statement given by Krishnakumar that he travelled in a Kumili- bound KSRTC fast passenger to reach Valakam on the day of the incident, is losing ground. The statement of the conductor of the Kumili-bound KSRTC fast passenger bus, V Raja, was recorded and the waybill was examined by the investigation team at the Kottarakkara DySP office on Wednesday.   Sources said that as per the information collected from the electronic ticketing machine, only two passengers had taken tickets to Valakam on the trip and both boarded from Thiruvananthapuram. One passenger had boarded the bus from Nilamel and he had alighted at Ayur. The conductor and the driver reached the DySP’s office with the bus on Wednesday to provide the details regarding the trip. The investigation team is also said to have contacted the Kumili KSRTC depot with the help of police from Periyar station. However no statement was recorded. The conductor of another KSRTC super-fast, of Aluva depot, passing through Valakam around the same time, was interrogated earlier. He too had confirmed that no passenger had boarded the bus from Nilamel to Valakam.  Sources in the investigation team told ‘Express’ that KSRTC ticket was found from Krishnakumar and he had given the statement that he travelled in a KSRTC bus.  ‘’In his statement he said that he took a KSRTC super-fast and mentioned that he usually used to take the Kumili-bound bus. It is not a matter of concern for the investigation as to which bus he had travelled.  We questioned more than 20 KSRTC bus conductors and drivers to ascertain facts and to check whether they had noticed any untoward incident in the said region at Valakam on the day and time of the incident,’’ an investigating official said.  The investigation team had already reached a conclusion that Krishnakumar suffered serious injuries after being hit by a speeding vehicle, as suggested by the medical report.  Police are now probing whether he was hit deliberately or whether it was an accident. However, the clue regarding a white Alto car that the investigation team received the other day, on verification proved to be wrong.