The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court to dismiss the investigation of the alleged rape and murder of a 15-year-old Dalit girl from its purview. In a written submission, CBI Superintendent A Raghuram Rajan stated that the “agency is dealing with several other important cases”.
The 15-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed on the premises of a residential school near Kurnool on August 19, 2017. Her body was found under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room. The case was initially probed by a Special Investigation Team. It wasto the CBI in 2020 by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government after her family and rights groups alleged that there was no progress despite scientific evidence of sexual assault.
Even in 2020, the CBI had to take up the case. According to the then Kurnool SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy, the CBI has sent a letter citing reasons for its refusal. “The reasons cited were that there is already a senior officer of the rank of Addl SP, and a lady officer, who is investigating the case. And since no international or interstate ramifications are there, they have refused to take up the case,” he told TNM in 2020.
The family then approached the High Court seeking the case to be transferred to the CBI.
