HYDERABAD: IN a significant development, a division bench of the High Court on Friday ordered the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Andhra Pradesh police to conduct fresh investigation into the sensational case of the rape and murder of B.Pharmacy student Ayesha Meera at her hostel in Ibrahimpatnam, near Vijayawada, on December 26, 2007. On Friday, the bench passed these orders on petitions filed separately by Ayesha’s parents Syed Iqbal Basha and Shamshad Begum, and Rama S Melkote and two others.
The bench made it clear that the fresh probe would be monitored by the court and that the SIT should complete the investigation expeditiously and submit its first case progress report to the court by April 2020. If the SIT experiences any extraneous influence, it should immediately report the matter to the court. Further, the bench directed the AP government not to transfer any of the SIT members/officers without the court’s prior permission.
Besides, it ordered the state government to forthwith initiate steps for taking disciplinary action against the then investigation officers who had mishandled the probe. On Friday, the bench pronounced its judgment by disposing of the PIL but kept the writ petition of Ayesha’s parents pending by ordering a court-monitored SIT probe into the case.