The Central Bureau of Investigation has launched a fresh probe into the investigation rape and murder of an Andhra pharmacy student which took place in December 2017. The Hyderabad High Court had instructed the investigative agency to file a fresh FIR and re-investigate the case after finding lapses in the investigation by the Special Investigation Team probing the case.
The 19-year-old pharmacy student was raped and murdered at her hostel in the outskirts of Vijayawada on December 27, 2007. The horrific incident had shaken the state of united Andhra and had triggered massive outrage.The case was then handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an Inspector General-ranked police official.
In November, the High Court was informed of the alleged destruction of evidence and records while the case was being heard in the lower court of Vijayawada. The HC had then asked the Registrar General to conduct a probe into the matter and submit a report.
The court then ordered the CBI to launch a fresh investigation based on a petition filed by the student’s parents. They had earlier stated before the court that the evidence was destroyed in the trial court in Vijayawada when the appeal against the verdict of the trial court was being heard in the High Court.
The CBI now filed a fresh FIR in the case and launched investigation. According to sources a case has been registered against unidentified persons in rape and murder case, while three staff members of Vijayawada Court have also been booked for allegedly destroying evidence and records.
The case
The 19-year-old pharmacy student was raped and murdered 11 years ago. Her body was found outside a toilet on the second floor of a ladies hostel in Ibrahimpatnam of Vijayawada. In 2008, the police stated that a suspect, who had been arrested in a cell phone robbery case, had confessed to the murder and was arrested in connection with the case.
But the student’s parents alleged that the accused was merely a misdirection in the investigation and a relative of the then Education Minister Koneru Ranga Rao was involved in the crime.
The arrested accused was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 by the Mahila Court in Vijayawada, the Hyderabad HC acquitted him last year.