Less than two weeks after meeting the family of Geeta* (name changed), a 15-year-old who was allegedly raped and murdered in 2017 in Kurnool, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government has handed over the case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The two-and-half-year-old case which was being probed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is alleged to have seen "irregularities and anomalies" during the course of its investigation. It will now be probed by CBI officials as the state government has given permission under section 6 of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act.
The Government Order (GO) 37 by the Principal Secretary states, "Government have decided to entrust the case of alleged rape and murder of a girl.. student of 10th class... who belongs to Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, under section 6 of Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for enabling them to investigate into the case."
The 15-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted before being killed in the premises of a residential school on August 19, 2017 in the outskirts of Kurnool. Her body was found under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room.
On February 18, Chief Minister Jagan met with Geeta’s family at an official event in Kurnool, where they had a brief interaction with him and sought the hand over of the case to CBI.
At the time Geeta’s father had spoken to TNM and said that the CM has taken note of the matter and considered their demand.
Her family and rights groups have alleged that the case didn't see progress even two years after the crime despite scientific evidence of sexual assault. A five-member committee which was formed by District Collector had also pointed out that there were several discrepancies in the preliminary investigation of the case by the police.