Bengaluru: The 2012 rape and murder of Saujanya in Dharmasthala has entered a fresh phase after the Karnataka government constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a new probe following the Supreme Court’s directions.
The SIT will be headed by Inspector General of Police N. Shashikumar and has been given three months to complete the investigation and submit its police report to the jurisdictional court in accordance with law.
The other members of the team are Mangaluru City Police Commissioner C.H. Sudheer Kumar Reddy, State Intelligence SP Nisha James, CID SP Lokesh Jagalasar and Bengaluru Rural Additional SP Venkatesh Prasanna.
According to the government order, the team has jurisdiction to investigate the case across Karnataka and has been constituted under the applicable provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. The SIT has also been authorised to file its report before the competent court after completing the investigation.
The fresh investigation follows a long legal battle by Kusumavati Gowda, mother of Saujanya, who had sought a reinvestigation into the case.
On September 21, the Supreme Court directed that the case be subjected to a fresh investigation. The court also directed that police personnel associated with the earlier investigation should not be part of the newly constituted SIT.
The court’s three-month deadline now places the newly formed team under a defined timeline to examine the case afresh, assess the available evidence and submit its findings before the competent court.
The constitution of the SIT marks a significant development in a case that has remained the subject of prolonged legal proceedings and public attention in Karnataka. The outcome of the fresh investigation will determine the next course of legal proceedings.
