11 yr after crime, CBI court acquits accused in rape-murder of teen

“The bail bond of the accused and that of his surety shall continue for a period of six months in terms of S.437(a) of Cr.P.C., to ensure his appearance before the higher court in case of any appeal or revision,” the court said.

The victim was raped and murdered when she was returning home from her college at Ujire on October 9, 2012.

Her parents looked for her after she did not return home from college, and her body was found the following day in a wooded area along which the girl used to walk home.

The police arrested Santhosh Rao, 34, a vagabond who lived in a temporary shelter around 50 metres away from the site where the body was found. The police also claimed that a watch that the victim had worn was found with the accused.

Locals, however, had alleged that Rao was being falsely implicated in the case and that local youths with high connections in the region were behind the crime.

Later, the case was handed over to the CID which also named Santhosh Rao as the accused. The case was handed over to the CBI under pressure from the local community in Dakshina Kannada when the Congress party was in power between 2013-18.

Following the CBI investigations Rao was charged with the rape-murder on September 19, 2016, by a special court. He was accused of waylaying the victim while she was walking home after disembarking from a bus on the evening of October 9, 2012.

Rao did not respond to the charges when they were read out to him in the open by the special judge at the time.