Rape victim's mother says Pawan Kalyan’s promises of justice undelivered, files complaint

Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.Parvathi Naik, the mother of the 15-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in Kurnool in 2017, has lodged a complaint against Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan with the Gannavaram police. Parvathi has accused Pawan Kalyan of cheating her by falsely promising to ensure justice in her daughter’s case, breaching trust, and making false claims regarding the case. The police have received the complaint, but an FIR has not been registered so far. Addressing the media on July 6, Parvathi said she was in Gannavaram to meet YouTuber ‘Prashna’ Raavan, who had been booked at the same police station under the draconian anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), over a video paying tribute to Maoist commander Madvi Hidma when he was killed in November 2025. Raavan had been arrested in multiple cases filed by Jana Sena Party workers over the past week for his controversial remarks on their party chief Pawan Kalyan. After securing bail four consecutive times in similar cases, he was booked in a UAPA case on July 4 over a video from November. He was then sent to judicial remand for 14 days.Under the previous YSRCP government, Pawan Kalyan had taken up Parvathi’s daughter’s case, demanding justice on their behalf. However, Parvathi recently accused Pawan Kalyan of using the case for political mileage and failing to take action after coming to power. When Pawan Kalyan was in the Opposition, he had said that Parvathi’s daughter’s case would be the first one to be taken up after he formed the government. But over a year after coming to power, in August 2025, Pawan Kalyan reacted to questions over the lack of progress in the case by alleging that the DNA evidence had been tampered with under the previous government, and the evidence samples were now not matching with the suspects. Meanwhile, Pawan Kalyan claimed credit for the compensation granted to the parents including land, a house site, and government jobs, saying they were a result of the pressure built through his campaign. Parvathi said on July 6 that Pawan Kalyan had assured justice for her daughter in his political speeches between 2019 and 2024, after looking at the post-mortem, histopathology and cytology reports, and other case materials. “After coming to power, there is no progress in the case. He then started making false claims that there is insufficient evidence and spreading false information. After watching his videos, many people are saying that there will be no justice in the case and the accused can now walk free. How can we expect justice after this?” Parvathi asked. She pointed to the video statement issued by Pawan Kalyan a day after Raavan’s initial arrest, saying people were allowed to criticise the government but in a respectful manner and with evidence. “They say the law is equal to all. Since they have booked Raavan for his videos, they must book Pawan Kalyan too,” Parvathi said, adding, “If the government had focused on my daughter’s case instead of filing false cases [on Raavan], we could have got justice.”Parvathi has been expressing support for Raavan ever since he was arrested. Raavan had been questioning Pawan Kalyan over her daughter’s case through his videos on his YouTube channel ‘Prashna’. Parvathi’s 15-year-old daughter was allegedly sexually assaulted and killed on the premises of Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy Residential High School near Kurnool on August 19, 2017. Her body was found under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room. The case was initially probed by a Special Investigation Team. It was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2020 by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government after her family and rights groups alleged that there was no progress despite scientific evidence of sexual assault.In February 2025, the CBI moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court to be recused from investigation. In a written submission, CBI Superintendent A Raghuram Rajan stated that the “agency is dealing with several other important cases”.Ignoring stack of evidence, how Andhra cops killed probe in a 15-yr-old’s rape case