The Karnataka government has constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reinvestigate the 2012 rape and murder of 17-year-old Sowjanya in Dharmasthala. The team has been given three months to complete the investigation and submit its report to the competent court.
The new investigation follows a September 21 order of the Supreme Court on a petition filed by Sowjanya’s mother, Kusumavathi Gowda, who had sought a fresh probe into the case.
The SIT will be headed by Inspector General of Police N Shashi Kumar. The other members are Mangaluru City Police Commissioner C H Sudheer Kumar Reddy, Intelligence Superintendent of Police Nisha James, CID Superintendent of Police Lokesh Jagalsar and Bengaluru Rural Additional Superintendent of Police Venkatesh Prasanna.
According to the Karnataka Home Department, the SIT has been given jurisdiction across the state. It has also been declared a police station under Section 2(1)(u) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. The investigating officers have been authorised to submit a police report before the competent court under Section 193 of the law.
The SIT will function under the supervision of the Director General and Inspector General of Police. After the investigation is completed, the DG and IGP will submit a report to the state government.
The case dates back to October 2012, when Sowjanya, a student of SDM College in Ujire, went missing on October 9 while returning home. Her body was found the following day in a forested area near the Nethravathi River in Dharmasthala.
A postmortem examination concluded that she had been sexually assaulted before her death. The case subsequently went through investigations by the Karnataka CID and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Santhosh Rao, who was the sole accused in the case, was acquitted by a trial court in June 2023. He had spent nearly six years in custody during the proceedings.
Following the acquittal, Sowjanya’s mother continued to seek a fresh investigation. She approached the Karnataka High Court in 2024, but her petition was dismissed. She later moved the Supreme Court seeking further investigation into the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death.
The Karnataka government had initially opposed the plea before the Supreme Court but later informed the court that it was willing to constitute an SIT to conduct a fresh probe.
The Supreme Court’s September 21 order has now paved the way for the new investigation. The SIT is expected to examine the available evidence, earlier investigation records and other relevant material to determine whether further leads can be established.
The fresh probe comes after earlier investigations failed to establish who was responsible for the crime. The new team will therefore have to review the case in detail and submit its findings within the three-month timeframe set for the investigation.
The formation of the SIT marks a new stage in the long-running case, with the authorities now tasked with examining the matter afresh and presenting their findings before the competent court.
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