Slain journalist's mother released on bail

The mother of scribe Nirupama Pathak, who was arrested last week in connection with the alleged honour killing of her daughter, was released on Sunday on parole for three days to attend the post-death rituals. Koderma Jail Superintendent Martin Ranjan said that Subha Pathak was allowed to go to her Jhumritilaya home to attend the 'shradh' rituals following a local court's permission.

Subha Pathak had on Friday petitioned Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) N K Agarwal to allow her to attend the 'shradh' of her daughter.

22-year-old Nirupama Pathak, who was working for a business daily in Delhi, was found dead on April 29 in her parents' house in Tilaya in Koderma district under mysterious circumstances. Her mother had alleged that it was a case of suicide. However, the post-mortem had revealed that Pathak died due to smothering. A 10 to 12 week-old foetus was also found during the autopsy.

Suspecting the death to be a case of honour killing, the police had arrested Subha. It has been claimed that Nirupama and her boyfriend Priyabhanshu Ranjan were planning to get married but her parents did not approve of the match because he belonged to a lower caste. They were batchmates from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication in New Delhi.

The police on Friday had filed a case of rape and abetment to suicide against Ranjan. The FIR was lodged on a direction from a local court. Taking cognisance of Subha Pathak's petition, CJM N K Agarwal asked Tilaya police to file the FIR under IPC Sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 420 (cheating) against Ranjan. All the sections are non-bailable.

Meanwhile, the doctors, who had performed post mortem on Nirupama, petitioned Deputy Commissioner Rajiv Arun Ekka urging him to direct the police to question them at Sadar Hospital and not at the Tilaya police station, police said. The doctors moved the DC after the police allegedly summoned them to Tilaya police station for questioning on Saturday.

The police said the Koderma police superintendent  G. Kranthi Kumar had visited Nirupama's residence on at Chitragupta Nagar locality here and quizzed her father Dharmendra Pathak, brother Samarendra, a Mumbai based Income Tax Inspector, and other family members for over four hours. Some neighbours were also questioned in connection with the incident.

The SP said the case was in an investigation stage and he was not in a position to divulge any information as it would hamper the probe. A police team led by senior police officer Shiv Prakash Singh, who was sent to Delhi to interrogate Priyabhanshu Ranjan, was in touch with Delhi police, the police said. A detailed investigation report was to be submitted to the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate soon, the sources said.