By IANS
Hyderabad : A month after the mysterious murder of a girl in a hostel in Vijayawada, the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission Friday began the public hearing into the case that has evoked a public outcry.
Vithalrao Patil, the commission’s registrar general, reached Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district, a day after commission chairman Justice Subhashan Reddy ordered the probe. Patil met police commissioner C.V. Anand and gathered details of the case.
He visited Durga ladies hostel in Ibrahimpatnam area, where 19-year-old Ayesha, a first year student studying pharmacy, was raped and murdered Dec 27.
The official questioned a few students at the hostel and conducted the public hearing.
The commission had directed Patil Thursday to conduct the probe into the failure of the police to bring the culprits to book after Ayesha’s parents met the commission chairman. The registrar general was asked to submit his report by Feb 4.
Iqbal Basha and his wife Begum alleged that the Vijayawada police were deliberately going slow on the probe as the culprits were backed by some “big politicians” of the ruling Congress party.
Ayesha’s naked body with stab injuries was found in the hostel bathroom and blood marks were found on the floor indicating that the girl was dragged to the bathroom from her bed. A letter was found near the body, stating that the girl was raped and murdered for refusing the murderer’s request for “love”.
Ayesha, who hailed from Tenali in Guntur district, had returned to the hostel the day of her murder after celebrating Eid at her hometown.
Police had formed three special teams to track down the culprits but there has been no progress in the investigation so far.
Police interrogated over 50 people including hostel warden Padma and her husband Krishna. They also conducted lie detector and DNA tests on 12 people but could not make much progress. DNA samples taken from a dozen suspects did not match the semen samples found on the body.
Koneru Ranga Rao, state minister for municipal administration, has denied allegations that he was trying to influence the probe. He even offered to quit politics if any of his family members were found to have been involved in the murder.
He said accusations were being made against his family because one of the suspects had the same surname as he did.