Family traveled by road to Washington, DC.
By The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: It’s been nine months since the 19-year-old Southern Illinois University student Pravin Varughese died mysteriously, in February, his body found with multiple injuries in an isolated wooded area. His family is still grieving and aggrieved, hunting for answers to who killed him, and justice to be delivered.
Along the way, as controversy built up, and the Carbondale police in Illinois botched up the case, family, relatives and supporters continued to rally behind the bereaved family based in Morton Grove in their call for justice.
But despite measures like the chief of the Carbondale police, Jody O’Guinn, being fired over the mishandling of the case, and political pressure building up, with elected officials clamoring for state investigators to nab an alleged culprit – who allegedly killed Pravin and is on the run – deliver closure to the Vaughese family, it’s not happened.
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The family has also filed a civil suit also against O’Guinn and the city of Carbondale, which will come up for hearing next month.
The Varughese family, on their part, have not given up their fight for justice, though. In fact, they, and in particular, Pravin’s mother, Lovely Varughese, has stepped up efforts to make sure that the killer(s) and those involved in a cover-up on the actual facts that surround the case do not go scot-free.
The family of Pravin Varughese traveled by road to Washington, DC, last week, to talk to elected state representatives of their ordeal, make their plea heard on Capitol Hill.
Related Story: Mayor of Morton Grove Dan DiMaria calls for re-examination of Pravin Varughese death case
The more than 14-hour long trip turned out to be more than successful as they got a call from the Justice Department, who urged the family to file a complaint against the Carbondale police, the state’s attorney and anybody else they think is to be blamed for the botched investigation.
“And they did tell me to file a formal complaint against the police department and the state’s attorney and whoever I think violated my rights. So I am going to be doing that in the next few days,” Lovely Varughese told NBC in an interview.
Specifically, she says, the complaint will be filed against Carbondale police and the Jackson County state’s attorney.
“We still don’t know what happened to our son,” said Lovely Varughese. “We have two other children that we need life to go on with, we have to live for them. Until we find some kind of closure in our son’s death I don’t think we can do that.”
Related Story: City of Carbondale, former police chief Jody O’Guinn want wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Pravin Varughese dismissed
Police initially told the family that the teen college student ran off after a night of drinking and died of hypothermia. But a second independent autopsy ordered by the family later showed that Varughese died of blunt force trauma to the head, with no drugs or alcohol in his system.
The family also met with Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Mark Kirk’s office and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, in Washington, DC.
“There’s a lot more to learn about this case and I want to help this dedicated family in making sure that we get to the bottom of this and that we get justice for their son,” Schakowsky said to NBC.