So far, Bhandara police hasn’t had a breakthrough in the case of the three minor girls’ bodies found inside a well on February 16. Blunder after blunder has been exposed by MiD DAY, starting February 28 (‘Will truth be buried under botched forensic investigation?’). To their credit, the cops tried to be inventive on occasions, but in vain. For instance, after time-honoured methods failed, cops prepared a mannequin each of the three girls, to size and weight, and tossed them into the well on Saturday.

Special inspector general of police (Nagpur Range) Rajendra Singh confirmed this to MiD DAY and said, “This experiment was done to determine if the resonance produced could be heard 100 metres away where a dhaba is located. Unfortunately, the answer is negative.” The exercise was important, as a man at the dhaba had claimed to have spotted the three sisters near the well on the afternoon of February 14. The girls went missing the same day.