One year after Monika Murdered, The Bajrang Dal organize Candle March in Nagpur

Monika Kirnapure

On March 11,2011, a group of hooligans stabbed 22-year-old city girl Monika Kirnapure and left her on city street begging for water. She finally took last breath.
On Sunday, one year will pass to this incident. The question still puzzling in the minds of many parents of the city is: what measures have been taken to make sure that such incident is not repeated? Will police be able to ensure safety? Can girls from the rural areas come and live in the city safely? If the answer to these questions is 'yes' then we can say that Monika has got justice.

Recap of Monika murder
On March 11, 2011 around 10.30 am Monika left for KDK College from Pratibha girls hostel alone. Monika was talking on her cell phone while walking towards the college which is 0.5 kilometer away, two hooligans aged around 20 and 22 years stopped her and hit her on her face with a knuckle duster and then stabbed her back with a knife after dealing many wounds on her hands and waste. Monika succumbed to injuries on the spot.

High Tech investigation
Though the murder took place in morning at a busy road, still no eye witnesses were ready to spill the beans. Unable to find any clue, the allegations cops incompetence were levelled. The commissioner of police Dr Ankush Dhanvijay decided to use high tech methods for investigation. All the calls made from or to the Nandanwan cell phone towers were searched.

The police found that two mobile numbers from Savargao were continuously in calling in the duration of 10 am to 12 noon on the day of the murder. The police succeeded in locating the owners of cell phones and interrogated Kunal and Pradip in this connection. both of them were left after primary interrogation but their confusing statements raised suspicious in police. After being released the duo absconded. The police took out the data of these two numbers and found that kunal had contacted one Shrikant Sonekar. On investigating about Shrikant the police was able to solve the case. The police investigated for 24 days and took out the data of over 3,65,000 cell phone numbers. 4 women police sub-inspectors remained round-the clock at the hostel gathering clue of the murder.

The police had arrested Kunal Jaiswal, Shrikant Sonekar, Pradip Sahare and Umesh alias Bhurya Marathe in this case. Another accomplice of this case Raju Adhyapahi is absconding.

Candle march today
The Bajrang Dal is taking out a candle march at 5.30 pm on Sunday from the spot where Monica was murdered.