Bengaluru, September 24 (Udaipur Kiran) : The Karnataka government has announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a fresh inquiry into the 2012 rape and murder case of Soujanya, registered at the Belthangady police station. This move comes in response to directives from the Supreme Court.
IPS officer N. Shashikumar has been appointed as the head of the SIT, which also includes members CK Sudhir Kumar Reddy, Nikhila James, Lokesh Jagalasar, and Venkatesh Prasanna. According to government orders, the SIT is tasked with completing the investigation within three months and submitting its report to the relevant court.
The case dates back to October 2012 when 17-year-old Soujanya, a second-year pre-university student at SDM College in Ujire, went missing while returning home from college in Belthangady taluk of Mangaluru district. Her family filed a missing person report at the Belthangady police station on October 9, 2012. The following day, her body was discovered in bushes near Mannasanka, leading to charges of rape and murder being added to the case.
Initially, the Belthangady police investigated the matter, which was later handed over to the Karnataka CID and subsequently to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The police arrested Santosh Rao as the sole accused in the case and proceeded with the trial against him. However, in June 2023, a special CBI court acquitted Rao, stating that the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence to support the charges. The CBI has since challenged this verdict in the Karnataka High Court.
On September 21, 2026, the Supreme Court ordered a complete reinvestigation of the case, directing the Karnataka government to establish the SIT while also stating that no officers involved in the previous investigations should be included in the new team.
Deependra Singh Chundawat is a Senior Sub-Editor at Udaipur Kiran, specializing in a wide range of technology topics including mobile phones, applications, gaming, PCs, and wearables. Along with covering the latest tech news, he also creates engaging web stories. Passionate about emerging technologies, he stays up to date with the newest trends and enjoys reading and writing about the latest mobile launches and digital innovations.