As the Varughese family of Morton Grove prepares to confront the first holiday season without their son Pravin, the 19-year-old Southern Illinois University student who was found dead in February, they are pursuing two developments they hope will bring answers to their many questions.
The first is that the family has brought a second lawsuit in the case, this time against an Illinois state trooper.
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The second is that two retired law enforcement officials, calling their organization Archangels of Justice, have volunteered their expertise to help the family pursue the case.
Lovely Varughese, Pravin’s mother, has filed suit against Trooper Chris Martin.
On Feb. 12, the night Pravin disappeared, Martin spotted a truck belonging to the young man who gave Pravin a ride after a party, according to the lawsuit. The suit alleges the driver of the truck told Martin he had gotten into a fight with a black male. Martin made a brief search by waving his flashlight, but did not file a police report, the suit claims.
Pravin’s body was found Feb. 18 in a wooded area in Carbondale, Ill., and an initial coroner’s report said he died of hypothermia; however, when the Varughese family commissioned an independent autopsy by Ben Margolis, M.D., of the Autopsy Center of Chicago, it concluded Pravin likely died from blunt force trauma, likely as as the result of an attack or fight.
Neither Carbondale police nor Jackson County State’s Attorney Michael Carr have brought charges against the driver of the truck or anyone else in the case, saying the incident remains under investigation.
“Carr has enough evidence to bring charges,” said Ira Robins, one half of the Archangels of Justice team. Robins said he served as a Wauwatosa, Wisc. police officer for 15 years and a private investigator for 17. “We’ve got a man who’s dead from a beating, a man who admitted beating him and a cousin he admitted beating him to.”
He was referring to the lawsuit, which alleges that when the driver of the truck and his cousin were watching television, a news report about Pravin’s disappearance came on and the driver identified Pravin as the man he hit in a fight.
Governor-elect Bruce Rauner and Attorney General Lisa Madigan could influence Carr to bring charges in the case, Robins said. He also said that when Lovely Varughese contacted U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the congresswoman’s representatives discussed a possibility of having the Department of Justice investigate the case as a possible civil rights violation.
Robins said he and his partner in Archangels of Justice, Salvatore Rastrelli, whom Robins said is a former deputy sheriff of Martin County, Fla., would help the Varugheses pursue that possibility. Robins and Rastrelli have started a YouTube channel and a Facebook page to state their evaluation of this case and others.
The Varughese family filed an initial lawsuit in August, naming the Carbondale Police Department, the city of Carbondale and the driver of the truck as defendants, accusing them of negligence.
The police department and city have not responded to requests by the media for comment.