AP DGP Sambashiva Rao about Ayesha Murder case

Vijayawada, Aug 06: The Andhra Pradesh DGP Sambasiva Rao participated in a program which is giving financial assistance to the 25 martyrs' families organized by the Vijayawada Club Committee.

Speaking on this occasion, DGP said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-investigate the rape and murder of Ayesha Meera, her parents voiced their disappointment at the move, saying the SIT will have members from the very police force that the High Court had pulled up for what it termed as a shoddy handling of the case.

The SIT has the Vijayawada police commissioner as a supervising officer while a DIG-rank officer will head the re-investigation. The SIT was hastily announced by the AP government after the HC reprimanded it for not initiating action against the erring police officials.

In depth into the matter, The victim Ayesha Meera, a 17-year-old B Pharmacy student, was raped and murdered on December 27, 2007. Her disrobed body was found outside the toilet on the second floor of the hostel she was staying in.

Ayesha's parents have scoffed at the government's move, saying they would settle only for a CBI investigation into their daughter's violent murder.

"For any investigation, the law states that 'justice should not only be done, but should seem to be done'. In this case, DGP N Sambasiva Rao had promised an independent investigation into the case but now the conflict of interest is evident by having the Vijayawada police commissioner in a supervising role," Ayesha's mother Shamshad Begum told TOI.

The HC had sought a departmental inquiry into officials who had investigated Ayesha's murder. "We don't want any SIT investigation into the case. We seek an independent CBI investigation," Shamshad added.