Attorney’s frustration increases over Frisco police’s shoddy work.
By Jose P.T.
FRISCO, TEXAS: David Finn, the attorney who was representing the late Pallavi Dhawan in her case of being accused of murdering her 10-year-old son Arnav Dhawan, has come out swinging against the Frisco, Texas, police department, who he feels committed an egregious error in putting Pallavi and her husband Sumeet Dhawan through a long legal and prosecution nightmare, which ultimately led to their demise.
Finn, who says he was devastated by the deaths of Pallavi, 39, and Sumeet Dhawan, 43, whose bodies were found at their house by the Frisco police, on September 3, now wants an independent investigation done on the case by the Texas Rangers or the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The shocking deaths of the Dhawans seems to have ignited anger in Finn, who knew the couple as “gentle, decent, good” people. He said earlier that he could not believe that either Pallavi and Sumeet could hurt each other.
The Frisco police have continued their callous way of treating the case, as they have been doing so for the last seven months, since they discovered the body of Arnav Dhawan in January of this year. His decomposing body was in the bathtub of the house, and his mother said he had died suddenly, and she had tried to preserve his body, so that his father, who was on a business trip could conduct his funeral according to Hindu rites.
The police, however, concluded that Pallavi had killed her son, and the case dragged on since then. Pallavi was supposed to appear before a Grand Jury to give her testimony. However, she and Sumeet apparently killed themselves, rather than endure the pain even more.
The police have only disclosed that the body of Sumeet Dhawan bore injuries to his head and one arm. He was found dead in a bedroom inside the house. The body of Pallavi Dhawan was found outside, in a swimming pool on the grounds of the house. The police have not disclosed the contents of a note found at the time the bodies were discovered. Also, the official results from the couple’s autopsies are pending, as toxicology results and other tests still need to come back.
At a press conference here (the video of a part of it is below), Finn said he believes Pallavi never got a fair deal, and claims that Frisco Detective Wade Hornsby thought Pallavi killed Arnav by smothering him, reported Fox News.
Since January, Finn maintained Arnav died from natural causes stemming from a brain cyst, and said a packet that had been prepared for a grand jury shows Arnav’s medical records support that.
Finn wants an independent investigation conducted by the Texas Rangers or even the FBI into the Frisco Police Department’s investigation into Arnav’s death.
Finn said he called the Texas Rangers seven months ago, asking them to intervene in Arnav’s death investigation. Finn also said he begged Frisco police for seven months to submit the murder case to the grand jury, reported Fox.
Police initially said Pallavi confessed to killing Arnav when she nodded her head in January. Finn believes too much of the police department’s case centered around that head nod.
“The only evidence they allegedly had was, ‘Did you kill him?’ And some sort of head nod,” said Finn. “And if you’re from India, you know that in different parts of India, [head nodding] means no, [shaking your head] means yes, and the Indian nod, or shake, means anything,” said Finn at the press conference.
Finn questioned why the two officers who discovered Arnav’s body in a bathroom did not have their body microphones or police cruiser dash cameras on when they first went to the Dhawans’ home and questioned Pallavi.
“…Despite the fact that two officers were there in their Tahoes with body mics that would’ve captured the question, the answer and the alleged head shake,” said Finn. “I find that unbelievably suspicious.”
Frisco police told FOX 4 that the recording devices weren’t turned on initially, but were later in that call.
Finn also alleged that Sumeet was only interviewed twice during the investigation into Arnav’s death.
When asked why the investigation took so long, Frisco Deputy Chief David Shilson said last Friday that their investigation was “impeded” and they couldn’t interview Sumeet.
“They could’ve interviewed Sumeet a hundred times if they wanted,” said Finn. “They never asked.”
“These were kind and gentle souls,” said Finn. “May they finally rest in peace; a peace they were denied the last seven months.”
WFAA, the local affiliate of ABC, reported that Frisco police said that the Texas Rangers are already assisting, and Assistant Chief Darren Stevens said it’s all about transparency.
“The note needs to be made public,” Finn said at the conference. “They shouldn’t be able to hide that under the rug and pretend that it didn’t happen. The public deserves to know.”
This week would have been significant for the Dhawans. Pallavi had been scheduled to take a lie detector test.
The couple had also hoped to go to their native India for a religious service to properly honor their son, but Pallavi was not able to get her passport.
“Judge Becker declined,” Finn said, reported WFAA. “I’m somewhat haunted by that decision, because it deeply affected Pallavi and Sumeet.”