Mangaluru, Nov 20: In a new twist to the 2012 Soujanya rape and murder case, a Special CBI Court has summoned three persons from Dharmasthala not named by the investigation agency in its charge sheet.
Soujanya, who was then a 17-year-girl and II PUC student of SDM college, Ujire was raped and murdered while returning home after finishing classes on October 10, 2012. This had triggered widespread protests in Dakshina Kannada.
The 50th Additional Sessions Court on Saturday issued summons to Mallik Jain, Uday Jain and Dheeraj Jain of Dharmasthala. The judge directed the trio to appear before the court and face the trial.
The summons were issued based on the petition filed by Soujanya's father Chandrappa Gouda pleading before the court to consider the trio as accused, saying they are involved in the murder.
The trial of the case is in progress. Witness statements by two doctors who conducted post-mortem on the body have given a new twist to the case. During cross examination, they testified that the crime was committed by more than one person.
While issuing the summons under Section 319 of CrPC, the court observed that Santosh Rao, given his mental ailments, couldn't have committed the crime alone. It relied on the doctor's statements for issuing the summons to Jain trio, sources said.
The CID had arrested Santosh Rao, who suffers from depression and other mental ailments, in connection with the murder. Now, the Special CBI Court has summoned the three others, based on new information presented during the trial. Till date, Public Prosecutor Shivananda Perla has examined 15 witnesses, including the two doctors.
Comments
Add new comment