NEW DELHI. Dec 11: India's premier investigative agency, facing a national outcry and court strictures, has launched an appeal over the murder trial acquittal of a powerful police officer's son. officials said here today, reports AFP.

A spokesman of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said the acquitted suspect. Santosh Singh, would be the subject of a high court appeal over the 1996 rape and murder of a 23-year-old law student. Priyadarshini Mattoo.

He said the trial would be reopened after the CBI lodged an appeal against the December 2 acquittal of Singh, which led to protests in parliament and street rallies in India.

'Whatever evidence and material are available in this case are sufficient for conviction." he said amid charges that the CBI had manipulated the probe to save Singh, son of a high-profile policeman.

. The suspect's father. J.P.

Singh, the current police chief in the federal territory of Pondicherry, has headed key posts Including a crack intelligence and counter-espionage unit of the Delhi police.

The protests erupted after Delhi Sessions Court Judge G.P. Thareja said he was acquitting Singh although he knew the man was the killer.

The judge in an unprecedented stricture against the CBI said the huge influence of the suspect's father in Indian police organisations appeared to have been the binding factor in securing his freedom.

The 455-page stricture said clinching evidence relating to the crime was unavailable to the prosecution or had been tampered.

Indian parliament on Thursday demanded the sacking of CBI chief R. K. Raghavan as newspapers launched separate probes to nail the federal agency in the murder.