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The gruesome murder of a young girl, then aged 17 years, shocked people all over the State, and was newspaper headlines for several days. The murderer is still on the loose for the past more than a decade. A botched investigation resulted in an innocent young man being convicted of rape and murder, and made to suffer imprisonment for several years. The agonised parents of the deceased want to know who killed their elder daughter and why?, and thereby seek closure to the trauma they are undergoing ever since her violent death. This, in short, is the case before us.

The botched investigation came in for severe criticism by the Division Bench which found it impossible to believe that no fingerprints were found on the body of the deceased which was dragged, and on which words were written; it was impossible for the accused to erase all those prints; there should have been a number of footprints when the accused was handling the deceased right from the hall where the attack had taken place upto the bathroom; the prosecution had failed to explain the two injuries on the left side of the upper lip and the lower lip of the deceased with corresponding incisions inside; it was contended, on behalf of the accused, that, when the deceased was pushed against the wall, her head hit the wall leading to the breaking of the base of her skull causing bleeding from her nose and mouth and, fearing that she may shout, the assailant had smothered her, and throttled her throat probably by pressing her face down against the pillow, and she must have died of asphyxia; they had relied upon the post- mortem report showing that there was sub-conjunctival petechial haemorrhage on both eyes, indicative of throttling the throat or asphyxia; they had also pointed out the presence of rigor mortis all over the body and post-mortem ant-bites present here and there, indicative of the body being left lying for a long time so as to attract ants to feed on the body; the defence had relied on Ex.P.15 scene of the offence observation report wherein the presence of a blood mark of 2 x 2 cms, on the cement wall almyrah next to the bed of the deceased, was noted; Ex.P.38 photographs clearly showed the pillow drenched in a pool of blood; and the medical report showed injuries on the left side of her skull and left lips.

The botched investigation, into the gruesome murder of Miss.Ayesha Meera, is a classic case of subversion of justice. As the gross indifference exhibited by the investigating agency earlier in ascertaining the truth, and in not bringing the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice, shocks our conscience also, we are satisfied that this case would fall within the category of the rarest of rare cases justifying an order being passed directing de-novo investigation by a Special Investigating Team. As the Government has itself constituted such a team, and the integrity of the police officials forming part of the SIT has not been doubted before us, we are of the view that the SIT, constituted by the Director General of Police, A.P vide his proceedings dated 08.08.2017 pursuant to G.O.Ms. No.132 dated 04.08.2017, be entrusted with the task of de-novo investigation of Crime No.477 of 2007 of Ibrahimpatnam Police Station.