After 18 long years, the Ayesha Meera case—a story that haunted Andhra Pradesh—has finally reached an official, if unsatisfying, end. On February 20, 2026, the Special CBI Court in Vijayawada accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation’s closure report. The reason.. Not enough "legally sustainable evidence" to move forward.

The Incident: A Night of Horror (2007)

On December 27, 2007, Ayesha Meera, just 17 and studying B-Pharmacy, was found murdered in the bathroom of her hostel—Sri Durga Ladies Hostel in Ibrahimpatnam, near Vijayawada. The scene was horrific: multiple stab wounds and a letter left behind. The writer claimed he killed Ayesha because she had rejected his “love.” That letter would become a central piece of evidence, but not the answer everyone hoped for.

Satyam Babu Chapter (2008–2017)

The police, under pressure to find someone, arrested Pidatala Satyam Babu in August 2008. He suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome—he could barely walk, let alone commit a violent murder. Still, in 2010, a special sessions court sentenced him to life in prison.

Seven years later, the Hyderabad High Court stepped in. They overturned his conviction, pointing out the obvious: Satyam Babu’s physical condition made the police theory absurd. The court didn’t just free him—they ordered the state to pay him ₹1 lakh for a botched investigation and accused police of framing an innocent man.

CBI Takes Over (2018–2024)

After Satyam Babu’s acquittal and mounting public outrage, the High Court handed the case to the CBI in 2018. The CBI did what few expected—they exhumed Ayesha’s remains in 2019, searching for missed forensic clues with a second post-mortem. But progress stalled. Key evidence and trial records had vanished, destroyed while the case was still open. Any hope for a breakthrough faded.

Final Chapter (February 2026)

The CBI filed a closure report, admitting they couldn’t name a suspect. Even those politically powerful names Ayesha’s parents kept raising couldn’t be tied to the crime—at least not with solid evidence.

Judge Annapurna accepted the report, bringing the 17-year search for justice to a close. Ayesha’s parents, Shamshad Begum and Iqbal Basha, told the court they simply didn’t have the money to keep fighting. The court ordered the government to return Ayesha’s remains for her last rites and provide security for her family during the ceremony in Tenali, set for February 27, 2026.

A Timeline of Loss

2007: Ayesha Meera is murdered in her hostel bathroom.

2008: Police arrest Satyam Babu. Doubts swirl from the start.

2010: Satyam Babu gets a life sentence.

2017: High Court frees Satyam Babu, blasting the investigation.

2018: CBI takes over.

2019: CBI exhumes the body. Evidence destruction uncovered.

2026: CBI Court closes the case. No conviction. No answers.

“We have fought for 18 years, but justice remains elusive,” Ayesha’s parents told the court. With that, one of Andhra Pradesh’s most talked-about cases ends—not with resolution, but with silence.