CID report in Sowjanya case within a week, says George

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is expected to submit in a week its report on the sensational rape and murder of 17-year-old II PU student Sowjanya, according to Home Minister K J George.

The police investigation into the case had been going on for the last one year. The Congress government took up the case “in earnest” and speeded up the probe. The government even “gave in” to the public demand to replace the investigating officer, George said after inaugurating the new building for HSR Layout police station here on Tuesday.

Once the CID submits the report, the government would decide on handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he added.

Ever since the girl was found raped and murdered on October 9, 2012, at Pangala near Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district, the family has been accusing the police of “shielding” the real culprits. They even contended that Nischal Kumar, nephew of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade, was involved in the crime.

Subsequently, there have been demands that the probe be entrusted to the CBI. 

Urban Development Minister Vinay Kumar Sorake also joined the issue, stressing that it was “not proper” to make allegations against the Heggade. He said Heggade had been engaged in social service for decades and it was “improper” to defame him. “We should look into why a section of people is making the allegations,” Sorake told reporters.

At the same time, he added, the truth should come out. “The CID is investigating the case. If needed, a CBI probe should be ordered,” he said.

Sorake further noted that crimes against young women were on the rise. Referring to a schoolteacher who is being tried for killing 35 women by administering them doses of cyanide, the minister said scores of young girls had been going missing. Hence, awareness campaign had been taken up in places such as Kundapur and Karkala, he added.

Meanwhile, the Lok Satta Party urged the State government to hand over the investigation of Sowjanya case to the CBI. It maintained the CID was unable to dig out the truth.

‘CID biased’

“The CID, which comes directly under the Home department, is highly influenced,” Ravikrishna Reddy, the party’s coordinator, said that in this case, a mentally unstable person has been arrested.” He said people believed the “real culprits had been let scot-free and someone else was made a scapegoat.”