Overview
- The Karnataka government constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team on Thursday to carry out the Supreme Court‑mandated de novo probe into the 2012 Soujanya rape and murder case.
- IGP N. Shashikumar will lead the team, which includes C.K. Sudheer Kumar Reddy, Nikhila James, Lokesh Jagalasar and Venkatesh Prasanna.
- The court specifically barred officers who took part in earlier local, CID or CBI probes from joining the new SIT to ensure the investigation starts afresh.
- The government has designated the SIT as a police station under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, authorised its investigators to file a report under Section 193, and asked the DG‑IGP to provide officers and other resources.
- The fresh probe follows a long investigative history that included CID and CBI inquiries, a June 2023 acquittal of the sole accused that the CBI has appealed, and the SIT’s report will be submitted to the competent court when the three‑month probe ends.