MANGALURU: Expressing hope after a 14-year wait, Kusumavathi, mother of late Sowjanya, said justice would finally prevail after the Supreme Court directed the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reinvestigate the 2012 rape and murder case.
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a fresh probe into the rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya at Ujire in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district. The court directed to constitute the SIT and submit a compliance report within three months.
Speaking to the TNIE, Kusumavathi said her long-standing demand for a reinvestigation had finally been accepted.
"My daughter is yet to get justice. Scores of my brothers have fought for justice in this case over the years. I am grateful to them, the Supreme Court and the advocates who stood by us. After 14 long years, I am hopeful that my daughter will finally get justice. I always believed that, with the blessings of Lord Annappa Swamy and Lord Manjunatha, the truth would prevail and those responsible for her murder would be punished," she said.
She also urged the authorities to thoroughly investigate all unnatural deaths reported in Dharmasthala over the years.
Sowjanya, a student of SDM College in Ujire, went missing while returning home from college on October 9, 2012. Her body was found the following day in a forested area near the Nethravathi River in Dharmasthala. The postmortem confirmed that she had been sexually assaulted before being murdered.
The Supreme Court's direction comes nearly 14 years after the crime. Earlier investigations by the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to identify those responsible for the crime.
The sole accused in the case, Santhosh Rao, was acquitted by a trial court in June 2023 after spending nearly six years in custody. In 2024, Kusumavathi approached the Karnataka High Court seeking a fresh investigation, but her petition was dismissed. She subsequently challenged the order before the Supreme Court.
Although the Karnataka government had initially opposed the plea, it later changed its stand and informed the Supreme Court earlier this year that it was willing to constitute an SIT for a fresh investigation.