A special CBI court on Saturday extended the remand of rape and murder accused Rahul Rai by five days for further investigation. Twenty-three-year-old Rai was produced before the court of Justice Anuj Kumar Gudia in Ranchi by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which arrested Rai from Lucknow on June 22.

Rai is accused in rape and murder of an engineering student in Ranchi’s Booty More area on December 16, 2016 – a day the entire country mourned the death of Nirbhaya in New Delhi. The engineering student was raped and burnt alive at her residence on the fourth anniversary of the Nirbhaya incident of New Delhi.

Neighbours found the semi-naked, half charred body of the student at her residence on the day of the incident. Soon media and activists started referring to the victim as Jharkhand’s Nirbhaya. Despite widespread protests and State Government’s intervention in the matter, her perpetrator could not be arrested.

Earlier, the case was investigated by the Ranchi police and the Crime Investigation Department (CID) but no breakthrough was made. The police had conducted DNA tests on more than 80 suspects but none of the reports matched the DNA of the sperm traces found on the victim’s body. Cyber experts were also roped in by the State Government to scan through emails and social media conversations in order to get through to the perpetrator, but no evidence was found online.

On January 3, 2017, the State recommended the case for a CBI probe. A year later, the Centre approved the Government’s request leading to registration of FIR by the CBI on March 28, 2018.

Rai, a resident of Nalanda in Bihar, was already serving jail on charges of rape in Lucknow when the CBI took him in custody. The case had particularly gained attention in Ranchi due to the brutality of the perpetrator and the cluelessness of the police.