Amaravati, May 26 (IANS) Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has accused Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of once again neglecting the case of Sugali Preeti, a 10th class student who was allegedly raped and murdered at a private school in Kurnool in 2017.

The YSR Congress Party president said that the negligence of Chandrababu Naidu’s government in the Sugali Preeti case is causing immense anguish to her parents.

In 2017, Sugali Preeti, an innocent Class 10 student, was brutally murdered, but the then Chandrababu government completely failed to identify and punish the culprits.

“After our government came to power, acting on the request of her parents, we constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and pushed the investigation forward. We also stood by the family by allotting them a five-cent house site in Kurnool, five acres of agricultural land, and a government job to compensate for their loss. Further, based on the family’s request, we ordered a CBI investigation into the case as well,” said Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He said that after Chandrababu Naidu returned to power, the case had once again been pushed aside and neglected. Now, when the CBI itself is claiming that it lacks sufficient staff and resources to continue the investigation effectively, the responsibility of the state government is to extend full cooperation and ensure that justice is delivered. Instead, the government has chosen to remain completely silent, Jagan posted on X.

He said it was even more painful for him to learn from Sugali Preeti’s parents that their pension has now been stopped simply because they have been speaking against the government and questioning its inaction.

“They also showed me the SIT reports prepared during our government’s tenure, along with the CDFD laboratory reports and DNA profiling details that were collected as part of the investigation. When such strong evidence and scientific reports are already available, is it not unjust for the state government to remain a mute spectator instead of ensuring that the investigation reaches its logical conclusion?” he asked.

Jagan said that today, when those grieving parents met him once again seeking justice for their daughter, he assured them that he would stand by them. On behalf of YSRCP, we will extend complete legal support to the family until justice is delivered to Sugali Preeti, he said.

Sugali Preeti’s parents, Parvathi and Raju Naik, met Jagan Mohan Reddy at the YSRCP central office in Tadepalli and appealed for justice in the brutal rape and murder case of their daughter.

Expressing deep anguish, they said that even after nine years, justice has not been delivered, and the Chandrababu Naidu-led coalition government is completely neglecting the case.

–IANS

ms/uk