SC orders reinvestigation into Sowjanya case, probe must end in 3 months

Bengaluru/Delhi

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a fresh investigation into the 2012 rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya in Dharmasthala and directed the Karnataka government to complete the probe within three months.

A Division Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the State government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct the fresh investigation. The court also made it clear that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had earlier investigated the case, should not be involved in the de novo probe.

The court further directed that police officers who were part of the earlier investigations into the case should be kept out of the new SIT. The SIT has also been specifically barred from investigating Santosh Rao, who was arrested and subsequently tried in the case but was acquitted by the CBI court for lack of sufficient evidence.

The directions came on a special leave petition filed by Kusumavati, Sowjanya’s mother, seeking a fresh investigation into the case. The Supreme Court had reserved its order nearly two months ago after indicating during the hearing that it was inclined to order a reinvestigation.

During the proceedings, the court had raised questions about aspects of the earlier investigation conducted by the CBI. The case had been transferred to the central agency following public pressure and widespread demands for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sowjanya’s death.

Sowjanya, a teenager from Dharmasthala, was raped and murdered on October 9, 2012. Her body was found the following day at Mannasanka in Dharmasthala. The initial investigation was conducted by the local police before the case was subsequently transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Karnataka.

The investigation was later handed over to the CBI amid mounting public pressure. The central agency arrested Santosh Rao and subsequently filed a chargesheet against him in connection with the crime.

However, the CBI court later acquitted Rao, citing lack of evidence against him. The acquittal left several questions surrounding the investigation and the circumstances of Sowjanya’s death unresolved, leading to continued demands from her family and supporters for a fresh probe.

The Supreme Court’s latest order now places the investigation under a newly constituted SIT of the Karnataka Police, while expressly excluding personnel who were involved in the earlier investigation. This condition is intended to ensure that the fresh investigation is conducted independently of the previous probes.

A significant aspect of the order is the direction concerning Rao. Since he was acquitted in the case, the SIT has been specifically restrained from investigating him. This means that Rao cannot be made the subject of the fresh investigation or questioned as part of the probe into the 2012 crime.

The Supreme Court’s order therefore sets out a fresh investigative framework more than a decade after Sowjanya was raped and murdered. The new SIT will have to examine the case independently, without relying on personnel involved in the earlier investigation, while completing the exercise within the three-month timeframe prescribed by the court.