Ayesha Murder Case: Naidu To Order Reinvestigation

The Andhra Pradesh government is likely to order the police to re-open and re-investigate the sensational Ayesha Meera murder case in the wake of the acquittal of the accused Satyam Babu recently.

The High Court recently acquitted Satyam Babu of the murder charge of the 19-year-old B Pharm student of Nimrah College, whose naked body was found in the bathroom of her hostel in Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada on December 27, 2007.

The murder created a sensation in the then undivided Andhra Pradesh with allegations of the involvement of some influential persons with political influence. Soon after the murder came to light, the needle of suspicion was immediately on Koneru Satish, local gram panchayat sarpanch and grandson of then minister Koneru Ranga Rao. Another suspect was Congress leader C Madhava Rao, president of the local mandal parishad.

However, with many twists and turns taking place in the police investigation dragging on for quite some time, Satyam Babu was arrested on August 17, 2008, and convicted on September 29, 2010. The mother of the murdered girl however said that Satyam Babu was not involved in the murder, and alleged that the real culprits were going scot-free.

Satyam Babu moved an appeal before the High Court on October 28, 2010, and was acquitted on March 31, 2017, after languishing in jail for over eight years.

Consequent to the acquittal of Satyam Babu, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu at a high-level meeting of police officials, including the DGP and intelligence chief, advised the police to seek legal opinion about reinvestigating the murder case. He had openly said that if the High Court gave permission, the case would be reinvestigated.

Senior police officials including the DGP on Thursday discussed the matter and the ways and means of proceeding further after seeking the required legal opinion in the case.

It may be mentioned here that Naidu, who was then the Leader Of Opposition in undivided AP, had demanded a CBI inquiry. He had even said during the election campaign in 2009 that if he came back to power he would order a reinvestigation of the case.