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The parents of a 15-year-old Dalit girl who was raped and murdered in Kurnool in 2017 met former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and YSRCP President YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on May 26 and appealed for justice in their daughter’s case.
After the meeting, the parents, Parvathi and Raju Naik, met the press. Parvathi accused Andhra Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan of using the case for political mileage while failing now to take action.
“We told the Deputy CM that the accused in the case were linked to the TDP and showed him all related reports and evidence, but no action followed,” she claimed and also asked how leaders who projected themselves as champions of women’s safety and justice could remain silent after attaining power.
“When we met with Pawan Kalyan he said there is nothing else to do in this case. ‘DNA and reports have all gone haywire. I cannot go and collect reports now, can I?’ he said in a press meet. I want to ask him, Pawan Anna (elder brother), weren’t these the same reports you saw in 2019? Yes the reports and DNA has gone haywire and there has been tampering. But he gave us his word. What happened to that?” Parvathi asked.
The couple expressed disappointment that despite repeated representations, the investigation had failed to move forward meaningfully even after meetings with leaders in the present coalition-led state government.
Meanwhile, Jagan said in a statement that “YSRCP will continue to stand firmly with them and extend legal and political support.’
Pawan Kalyan had, on several occasions, demanded justice for the deceased. In a February 2020 Jana Sena rally, Parvathi openly expressed her admiration for Pawan Kalyan and stated that she was grateful for all the support he had given. In 2024, after he took up the post of Deputy CM, the parents met him again as there had been no progress in the investigation.
The 15-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed on the premises of a residential school near Kurnool on August 19, 2017. Her body was found under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room. The case was initially probed by a Special Investigation Team. It was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2020 by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government after her family and rights groups alleged that there was no progress despite scientific evidence of sexual assault.
In February 2025, the CBI moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court to be recused from investigation. In a written submission, CBI Superintendent A Raghuram Rajan had stated that the “agency is dealing with several other important cases”.
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