The sensational case of Ayesha Meera, 17-year-old B Pharmacy student who was raped and murdered at a hostel in Vijayawada, hit a roadblock with little to no progress in the investigation. Ayesha’s family are now preparing to file a petition before the high court to speed up the investigation as the case is being dragged close to 12 years now. “We need them to fix a time frame and to monitor the case’s progress,” said the lawyer handling the case while speaking to this correspondent.
“The investigators keep changing, reasons for delay are varied and all this is happening as there is no pressure on them. We need to approach the court to speed up the investigation. The re-post mortem examination was conducted in December but the report of it never saw the light of the day. We are given reasons like the report has not arrived from Gandhi Hospital itself, or that the students are having their PG exams. COVID outbreak has further slowed down the progress. All this lethargy is shown due to lack of pressure,” said Srinivas Rao, the advocate fighting the case on behalf of the family.
The forensic experts had collected hair, nails and bones during the re-post mortem on the victim in December, 2019. As per sources, the report was submitted to the high court in a cover which was sealed up by experts. Meanwhile, the officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation said that they would be submitting their report work on the case at the earliest.
After the acquittal of Satyam Babu in a benchmark judgement announced in March 2017, the case has been tossed around for a lead. With the name of Koneru Satish, the grandson of former deputy CM Koneru Ranga Rao. popping up in the case, the issue took a turn.
At the time of the incident and following the arrest of Babu, parents of Ayesha and several activists alleged that cops nabbed him only to let Satish off the case.
It was also alleged by Ayesha’s parents that Koneru Satish and his friends were regular visitors to the girls’ hostel as it was owned by his relative, Koneru Padma. Satish had earlier agreed for a Narco Analysis test during the last interrogation by the investigators in December, 2019 to prove his innocence. “The Special Investigation Team (SIT) should call for the test and take action but very little is being done on their part due to lack of accountability. We will be approaching the court to speed up the trial,” concluded the advocate.