Beltangady: CBI team arrives to probe Sowjanya case

Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady

Beltangady, Mar 23: Nearly one-and-a-half years after she was found raped and murdered near Dharmasthala in October 2012, the CBI team on Sunday March 23 arrived here to investigate Sowjanya's death.

The three-member team from Chennai visited Sowjanya's parents and also the crime spot at Pangala near Dharmasthala.

The team will begin a thorough investigation from Monday March 24, sources said.

The government handed over the case to the CBI in November 2013, after a series of protests led by Mahesh Thimarodi of Prajaprabhutva Vedike and Sri Esha Vittaldasa Swamiji of Kemar Math and requests from leaders including MLAs Vasanth Bangera and Shakuntala Shett, and even Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade who wrote a letter to the government urging CBI probe.

The government had first handed over the case to CID, which submitted its 15-page report a year after the murder, apparently due to media and public pressure. In its report, the CID named Santosh Rao, who was arrested soon after the incident, as the accused and gave clean chit to Nischal Jain, nephew of Dr Veerendra Heggade, and to Mallik Jain, Uday Kella and Dheeraj Jain, all of whom had been named by the victim's parents and other local leaders like Mahesh Thimarodi.

Even after the state government announced CBI inquiry into the case, the protests continued as the probe did not begin as expected. The protestors including Sowjanya parents had also demanded CBI inquiry into the other 462 unnatural deaths that had been reported in Dharmasthala over the last ten years.

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