VIJAYAWADA: A former member of the National Commission of Women (NCW) has said the actual man who raped and murdered Vijayawada girl Ayesha Meira escaped while an innocent man, P Satyambabu, who had nothing to do with the killing, was held guilty.The murder of Ayesha Meera, a 19-year-old pharmacy student from Ibrahimpatnam, was found murdered in her hostel after being raped in December 2007. The murder sent shock waves across the state and was investigated by then NCW member Nirmala Venkatesh.Visiting Vijayawada on Wednesday, having quit the commission, Venkatesh said strong political lobbies connived to let the real culprit, a close relative of a politician from Krishna district, off the hook. ‘’Why didn’t (Vijayawada MP) Lagadapati Rajagopal make a single comment on the murder in his own constituency,’’ Venkatesh asked.The former NCW member said politicians and the police did not cooperate with her when she tried to investigate the case. Though she recommended a CBI inquiry into the case, the government did not take any initiative.For instance, police did not comply when she asked them to conduct a narcoanalysis tests on hostel warden Padma and her husband, then Ibrahimpatnam MPP Ch Madhava Rao and two other girls who were with Meera in the hostel. Without information from the hostel warden and the girl’s roommates, there was no possibility of cracking the crime.There was enough evidence indicating that some five to six males had had a party on the second floor of the hostel on the night of the rape and mudrer. Police found liquor bottles and non-vegetarian food there. But no politician from the state raised his or her voice against the coverup, Venkatesh said. Instead, local politicians lobbied to get the then commissioner of police C V Anand transferred.Venkatesh said she would standby Satyambabu who has filed an appeal against his conviction in the High Court. A Vijayawada court convicted Satyambabu and sentenced him to 14 years in prison in September 2010 for the murder of Ayesha Meira.
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