The Hindu : Front Page : Police make headway in Ayesha case?

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Police make headway in Ayesha case?

Special Correspondent

Mango merchant who is associate of Laddu picked up by Vijayawada police

Upender Singh is a resident of Jagtial in Karimnagar district
Singh’s mother moves State Human Rights Commission in Hyderabad

VIJAYAWADA/KARIMNAGAR: The Vijayawada police appear to have made some headway in the investigation into the four-month-old case of murder of pharmacy student Ayesha Meera in a private ladies hostel at Ibrahimpatnam near here.

A team of the Vijayawada police on Tuesday questioned Upender Singh, a resident of Jagtial in Karimnagar district, at an undisclosed destination.

Singh, 30, was picked up by the Vijayawada police from Chelgal village of Jagtial rural mandal. He was working as mango merchant in the region and staying with his brother-in-law Sheik Subhani. Singh is also an associate of Gurvinder Singh alias Laddu, who himself was subjected to scientific tests about a month ago following a suspicion that he could be involved in the crime.

The police said Singh, before migrating to Jagtial some three years ago, resided in the railway quarters at Satyanarayanapuram in the city and was arrested on charges of committing thefts and chain snatchings. It was learnt that he was convicted in four similar offences he had committed in Hyderabad.

“We have questioned Upender Singh in connection with Ayesha Meera’s murder case and sent him back to Jagtial. We have so far not come to any conclusions and the case is still under investigation,” Police Commissioner K.V. Rajendranath Reddy confirmed to The Hindu on Tuesday. But he said questioning Upender was just a part of investigation into the case and “not a major breakthrough”.

Needle of suspicion

However, Home Minister K. Jana Reddy told reporters in Hyderabad that he would place the facts relating to the actual offenders in the case before the people at the earliest. He said the Vijayawada police initially suspected the involvement of some persons and let them off later. The needle of suspicion pointed to the same persons once again.

The Minister held that any disclosure about the offenders at this stage would jeopardise the progress of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi Bhai, mother of Singh, moved the State Human Rights Commission in Hyderabad seeking a direction to the police to produce her son in the court. She said the police could certainly question her son and subject him to any number of tests but only after taking him into custody through a lawyer.

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