On July 8, 2008, Gopika was was playing in the verandah of her home, when her mother, R Usha, went for bath. The girl was found missing when the mother returned. On July 8, 2008, Gopika was was playing in the verandah of her home, when her mother, R Usha, went for bath. The girl was found missing when the mother returned.

Seven years after their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Gopika was found murdered, a Madurai family is looking at the High Court to order a CB-CID probe into the alleged case of human sacrifice. The case is the part of the multi-crore mining scam that recently took a macabre turn with a quarry owner facing charges of human sacrifice.

On July 8, 2008, Gopika was was playing in the verandah of her home, when her mother, R Usha, went for bath. The girl was found missing when the mother returned. According to the family, a neighbour — the mother of a granite quarry worker — was the last one to leave the house. The girl’s body — with her throat cut and earlobes chopped off — was found after 11 hours in a canal, one kilometre from their house.

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Thirty days later, the family spotted remains of a puja exactly at the spot where Gopika’s body was found. A neighbour — who worked at the quarry — was arrested, but the police concluded that the child was killed after being hit by the vehicle of the accused. “Since the beginning, we had reasons to suspect the quarry employee, our neighbour. But when he was arrested, the case turned out as an accident. If she was hit by a vehicle, why would there be a cut on her throat? Why was there a puja 30 days later in the canal?” said Usha.

Based on the family’s plea — filed in 2013 — the Madras HC has now asked police to file a counter affidavit. “It has been two months. Unless police file the counter, the case will not come up for hearing,” family said.

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