Ayesha Meera murder case: CBI likely to reinvestigate

Though the police department wants to file an appeal, Naidu wants the case to be reopened.

File image of CBI main office in New Delhi. | PTI

VIJAYAWADA: The state government is now considering handing over the Ayesha Meera murder case to the CBI. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is reportedly veering towards the decision since reinvestigation of the case, if done by the state police is likely to raise doubts over credibility of the probe in the wake of the Hyderabad High Court making adverse comments on how the cops went about the case while acquitting P Satyam Babu of charges of rape and murder of the 17-year-old.

Rights organisations such as the Human Rights Forum have already demanded that the government refer the case to the CBI since the police had failed to nail the actual culprits.

According to sources, the intelligence department too is understood to have suggested to the CM that it would be better if the reinvestigation is done by the CBI.

The department reportedly reminded the Chief Minister how the credibility of the police department had taken a beating after the High Court questioned it and the prosecution on several aspects of the investigation of the case and concluded that the police had framed Satyam Babu to let the actual culprits off the hook.

The Chief Minister’s office and the state intelligence department received inputs from various quarters which preferred CBI to state police for re-investigation of the case.

Though the police department wanted to file an appeal, the CM wanted the case to be reopened by the CBI to send out the message that the government was keen on identifying and punishing the actual culprits in the case.

When the police arrested Satyam Babu, Muslim Welfare Organisations, People’s Organisations and senior advocates said they had no faith in the police anymore since it had framed an innocent person in the case instead of apprehending the actual culprits. After Vijayawada Mahila Court sentenced Sataym Babu to life imprisonment, senior advocate K Rammohana Rao and others challenged the verdict in the High Court.

“If the state government turns the case over to the CBI, it would be the most appropriate decision in the present circumstances. By doing so, the killers of Ayesha Meera would be brought to book. It is a case fit for the CBI since the Judiciary made comments on the police department,” Human Rights Forum general secretary for AP and Telangana VS Krishna said.