The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday approached the Hyderabad High Court, and said that the state was ready to re-investigate the 2007 murder case of Ayesha Meera.
Ayesha Meera, a 17-year-old B pharmacy student was murdered on December 27, 2007.
This development also comes two weeks after the Vijayawada Metropolitan Sessions Court rejected a petition filed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), to reopen the murder case.
Citing technical grounds, and claiming that the case did not come under the Vijayawada court's jurisdiction, the fourth additional metropolitan judge rejected the petition.
The Times of India reported that AP Principal Secretary (Home) AR Anuradha filed an affidavit in the HC, stating that the state was in favour of conducting reinvestigation.
“We have already formed a special investigation team with Visakhapatnam DIG Ch Srikanth as its chief. But when the SIT sought permission from the fourth additional chief metropolitan magistrate court in Vijayawada, it denied permission on the ground that a trial court has no jurisdiction to pass such orders. Even Supreme Court has said that the police cannot on their own start reinvestigation into cases where investigation is over and chargesheet has been filed before the trial court," ToI quoted the Secretary as saying.
The case will come up for hearing again on Monday .
Ayesha's naked body was found on the second floor of her hostel in Ibrahimpatnam, outside the toilet. The police stated that she was stabbed to death.
On September 29, 2010, the Vijayawada special sessions court convicted Satyam Babu and sentenced him to imprisonment for life.
However, on March 31, 2017, the Hyderabad Court acquitted Satyam Babu of the charges, stating that he was framed, and spent almost eight years in jail for a crime which he didn’t commit.
Following this, the state government constituted an SIT to re-investigate the case.
Ayesha’s parents have continued to maintain for close to a decade, that Satyam Babu was innocent and was being framed by the police.
They have consistently pointed fingers at Koneru Satish, grandson of former Andhra Pradesh Deputy CM Koneru Ranga Rao.
Her parents have claimed at various times that Koneru Satish frequently visited Ayesha's hostel along with friends and relatives, including Koneru Suresh, Abburi Ganesh, Chinita Pawankumar and Rakesh.
They also alleged that the warden, Koneru Padma, allowed them to enter the girls' hostel as they were relatives.