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[NEW DELHI, 17th January 2007] - A government investigation into the gruesome murders of about 20 women and children in India on Wednesday criticised police and local officials for ignoring reports of missing children mainly because they were poor. The case, which has shocked the entire nation, came to light last month when human remains - including body parts and skulls, mostly of children - were found in the backyard and drain of a rich businessman's house in Noida, a satellite town of New Delhi. The businessman and his domestic servant have been arrested. In a statement, a special committee set up by the ministry of women and child development to probe the case said it was "evident" that there was "apathy" and indifference" by local authorities and police to the reports of missing children. "The committee has observed that the victims' families did not receive any support or cooperation from the administration of the community until very recently," said the statement. "It was felt that reporting and investigating of case of children missing are not necessary priority especially from poor families." The police, who apparently ignored complaints for more than two years, is also under scrutiny by the country's top investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the case a week ago. Authorities sacked six policemen and suspended four others for negligence but accusations against the police continue. Social activists, who became suspicious in 2005 when many parents reported their daughters were disappearing, claim police turned a blind eye to the accused last year, even though residents found a body part in the drains behind his lavish home. "We saw a piece of a leg lying in the drain behind the house last year and we told the police, who said 'No, ma'am, this is a peacock's leg' and they just threw it away somewhere," said local activist, Usha Thapar. "Police eventually questioned the owner of house around October, but released him as he is a big, rich man - as they believed him instead of the poor parents." Bua Singh, the state's director general of police, admitted errors in handling the case but claimed the media was sensationalising the issue. "We have always admitted there was negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of local officials who did not register the cases in the first place," Singh told Reuters. But even after the suspects were arrested, police have been accused of corrupting the crime scene by not preventing angry residents from storming the house where the murders took place, and for allowing journalists inside. They were also accused of failing to carry out a proper search of the scene before handing the case over to the CBI. More than two weeks after the first remains were found in the drains around the house, CBI detectives found three more skulls and more than 40 polythene bags filled with body parts and bones in and around the house. Further information