Ayesha murder: Satyam demands compensation

VIJAYAWADA: Requesting the officials to implement the recommendations of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation and provide two acres of land and a government job to him for a living, Pidathala Satyam Babu, who was acquitted in the sensational Ayesha Meera murder case in March 2017, gave a representation to NTR District collector Dilli Rao at the Spandana grievance cell on Monday. 

Satyam Babu recently wrote an open letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana pleading for justice by directing officials concerned to release the compensation amount and other benefits as directed by the NCSC in 2019. The 32-year-old explained the hardships faced by him and his family during his nine-year jail term. He said the police branded him as a murderer and rapist. 

He filed a complaint against Vijayawada police with the NCSC in 2019 alleging he was being harassed under the guise of a ‘history sheet’ opened against him in 2012 while he was in jail. The NCSC issued summons to Vijayawada police and an assistant commissioner-ranked attended the hearing. He described the police investigation in the murder case of 19-year-old Ayesha Meera as unscientific and alleged that the police deliberately misled the investigation to save the real accused in the case. 

Speaking to reporters, Satyam Babu said he is yet to receive the compensation amount of Rs 10 lakh for serving nine years of prison sentence for a crime he did not commit, a government job and also two acres of land as instructed by the NCSC. 

“While the Vijayawada police paid Rs 1 lakh to me as compensation as directed by the High Court, the district collector failed to implement NSCS directions. I was tortured during the investigation and the police intentionally dragged me into the case to wash off their hands,” he said.

NTR district collector S Dilli Rao said he would review the petition submitted by Satyam Babu and the directions of the NSCS. “We will look into the petition and do what we can do at the earliest,” said Dilli Rao.