November 30, 2018:

On Thursday, in a significant development, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court directed the CBI to probe the Ayesha Meera rape & murder case afresh, by registering fresh FIRs in the incident that took place at a hostel in Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada in 2007.

The bench, not satisfied with the ongoing SIT probe, entrusted the case to the CBI to take it to its logical conclusion.

The bench also directed the CBI to probe separately into the aspect of the destruction of material objects (evidence) of the case on Oct 7, 2014, before the trial court concerned even before the High Court decided on a pending appeal filed by Pidathala Satyam Babu.

The bench directed the CBI to register FIRs separately on the above two aspects. While directing the CBI to act independently while probing the case, the bench directed the SIT to handover the case related documents, records, evidence etc. to the CBI.

Bench comprising of Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan & Justice SV Bhatt was passing this order in a petition filed by Ayesha’s parents Syed Iqbal Basha and Shamshad Begum seeking a court-monitored probe into the murder and to punish the real culprits responsible.

On March 31, 2017, the High Court acquitted Satyam Babu from the charges of murdering the victim in her hostel on Dec 26, 2007. Satyam Babu’s arrest triggered outrage among the public, including family members of Ayesha, who suspected the role of bigwigs in the murder.

While setting aside the lower court order dated Sep 29, 2009, the court reprimanded the then investigating officers and directed the AP govt. for initiating disciplinary proceedings against the erring officers. It also directed the government to pay 1 lakh as costs to Satyam Babu who has already served 8 years in prison.

In Jan this year, the bench ordered the SIT to investigate afresh into the incident. It made it clear that the SIT probe would be monitored by the court and that the probe agency would complete the investigation expeditiously and should submit its case progress report before the court.

On an earlier occasion, the bench took a serious view at the destruction of evidence—material objects like clothes and other material of the victim which were seized by the police from the scene of offence—before the trial court and warned of taking severe action against all those responsible for it.

On Thursday, the bench directed CBI to probe afresh into the two aspects—murder incident and destruction of material objects, by registering FIRs separately.

“We want a logical conclusion,’’ it said before adjourning the case hearing.

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