Facing heat from the Allahabad High Court over negligent investigation into the mysterious death of a 16-year-old girl student at Navodaya School campus in Mainpuri in 2019, DGP Mukul Goel on Friday set up a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident.

Earlier, the High Court had asked the UP Police brass to update the court after a month with the progress in investigation into the incident. The family members of the deceased girl had alleged that she was sexually assaulted and then murdered.

The High Court also issued a directive on Thursday that the state government must issue an order directing its officers to complete the investigation of rape cases within two months or within the time limit as per amended provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). It further directed the UP Police brass to ensure that family members of the girl were not pressurised during investigation and to ensure their safety.

A division bench of the Allahabad High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice Anil Kumar Ojha was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Mahendra Pratap Singh wherein the petitioner had alleged that the police were not fairly investigating the incident and instead had been protecting the actual perpetrators. The court suggested that the investigating officer must collect the call details of the phone numbers concerned which could be material evidence in the case.

During the course of hearing, Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal, representing the state government, informed the court that the investigation officers, ASP and DSP, who were initially investigating the case, had been suspended.

He said a new SIT had been formed to investigate the case afresh.

Earlier too, the state government had formed a SIT and removed the then Superintendent of Police of Mainpuri, Ajay Shankar Rai, after his callous approach was highlighted.

The mother of the deceased girl had stated in the FIR that her daughter used to complain that she knew some secrets of the school and that was why the principal was torturing her. The girl had called her mother just a day prior to her death and said that she was getting life threats, but when the family members tried to talk to the principal, she paid no heed.

After being pulled-up by the Allahabad High Court judges on Wednesday, the state government suspended two police officers — ASP Om Prakash Singh and Circle Officer Prayank Jain, who were posted in Mainpuri when the incident took place.

The case dates back to September 16, 2019, when a Class XII student of Navodya Vidyalya was found hanging under mysterious circumstances in her hostel room in Mainpuri. After protest and demonstrations, the police registered a case of murder and attempt to rape against three persons -- the woman principal, the hostel warden and a classmate of the girl. Nearly three months after the incident, the government removed the then SSP of Mainpuri, Ajay Shankar Rai, and formed a three-member SIT to investigate the case.