Demanding that the murder case of B Pharmacy student Ayesha Meera in Vijayawada be reopened, a public interest petition was filed in the Hyderabad High Court on Saturday.
The petitioners stated that the High Court had ordered the release of P Satyam Babu earlier this year, after finding that he was innocent. However, it claimed that the real culprits were still at large.
The petition was filed by retired Osmania University professor Rama S Melkote and two others.
"The people responsible for sidetracking the probe in to this murder case should be punished and a thorough fresh probe be conducted.Since the AP police are not responding to our pleas in this regard, we urge this court to issue directions to this effect," the petitioners were quoted as saying.
The case may come up for hearing next week.
Ayesha Meera was a first-year pharmacy student and was living in a ladies hostel at Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada. Her blood-stained body was found in December 2007 in the hostel’s bathroom with multiple stab injuries.
A year after her death, the police arrested Satyam Babu in a petty case, and claimed that he had confessed to the murder during interrogation.
Satyam Babu was convicted by a Vijayawada women's special sessions court in 2010, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Throughout the trial, Ayesha Meera’s parents maintained that Satyam was innocent, and was being framed for their daughter's death.
When the case first broke out, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was the state's Opposition leader, and had demanded a fair enquiry into the incident.
Naidu was also among those who alleged that the YS Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government was covering up the case to protect influential politicians.
Ayesha’s parents had alleged that former Congress Minister Koneru Ranga Rao's grandson, Koneru Satish, frequently visited the hostel along with other 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.
The parents held these people squarely responsible for their daughter's death.
After the court ruled that Satyam Babu was innocent, Ayesha's parents met Naidu and demanded a fresh probe into the crime.
In April this year, addressing a press conference in Vijayawada, DGP N Sambasiva Rao told media persons that the police was willing to hand over the case to any agency, to investigate the murder.
“We are definitely looking for an opportunity to hand over the case to the CBI. We want the parents [Ayesha Meera’s] to be happy. We really feel sorry that the girl is not there. Basically to satisfy everyone, we have decided to go for reinvestigation,” Rao was quoted as saying.
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