Bengaluru : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an appeal in the High Court of Karnataka against the acquittal of the accused in the rape and murder of a 17-year-old student in Dharmasthala by a lower court in July this year.

Soujanya, a student of SDM College in Ujire near Dharmasthala, was murdered on October 10, 2012.

The CBI had taken over the investigation and filed a charge sheet in 2015.

Santhosh Rao, who spent six years in jail as an undertrial was released following the special CBI court verdict.

The appeal is yet to be listed before a HC bench for hearing. The CBI had 60 days to file the appeal.

Earlier in September, the HC had refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking reinvestigation in the case.

The HC had observed while rejecting the PIL that appeal against the acquittal should be filed by the investigating agency or the parents of the victim. The petitioners were allowed to withdraw their PIL.

The victim’s father had also filed a petition before that in 2018 seeking reinvestigation which was rejected by the HC in 2021.