Ten years after the 17-year-old was brutally murdered, there will finally be a fresh investigation in the Ayesha Meera case. The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the killing of the teenager at a hostel in Andhra in 2007, after being reprimanded by the Hyderabad High Court for their inaction in the case.
The government issued an order on Friday constituting the SIT. However, the Home Department has not set any time frame for the SIT to complete the probe, reported The Hindu.
The Home Department issued Government Order (G.O) 132 appointing the SIT to be headed by a Deputy Inspector General of a police-cadre officer. The team comprises women officers as well. Vijayawada Police Commissioner, Gautam Sawang would be supervising the investigation, said, Deccan Chronicle.
It may be recalled that on March 31 this year, the Hyderabad High Court saw several shortcomings in the investigation of the case and proved that the arrested accused in the rape and murder of 17-year-old Ayesha, Satyam Babu, was innocent.
Recently, on August 1, the High Court had sought explanation from the Andhra authorities on what action have they taken so far against the erring officers, who framed Satyam Babu in the case.
The court directed the authorities to report the action taken so far in the case by August 8.
Ayesha Meera, a pharmacy student, was raped and murdered in the Sri Durga Ladies Hostel, at Ibrahimpatnam, Vijayawada on December 26, 2007.
Police arrested Pidatala Satyam Babu in the case and booked him as the prime accused. However, Ayesha’s mother, Shamshad Begum argued that Satyam Babu was innocent and was made a scapegoat.
Ayesha’s parents have alleged that former Congress Minister Koneru Ranga Rao's grandson, Koneru Satish, was involved in their daughter’s murder.
"These men used to frequently visit Preeti (Ayesha’s roommate) and the two other girls when Ayesha was not in the room. As the police were not doing a fine job of investigating the incident, we enquired on our own. Ayesha had seen these men (Koneru Satish and his relatives, Koneru Suresh, Abburi Ganesh, Chinita Pawankumar and Rakesh) that night in her room, and they were drunk. They smashed her head against the wall to silence her, as she told them she would complain about the incident," Shamshad Begum alleged, while speaking to TNM earlier.