Vijayawada Custodial Death Under SIT Lens

The Andhra Pradesh Police have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged custodial death of a 25-year-old man in Vijayawada.

Inspector General (Law and Order) M. Ravi Prakash will head the SIT to probe the disappearance and alleged custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna.

According to a Government Order issued by the Chief Secretary, Sai Prasad, West Godavari Superintendent of Police Adnan Nayeem Asmi and Alluri Sitharamaraju SP Amit Bardar will be the members. Bapatla district Additional SP L. Sudhakar has been named as the investigation officer.

The government has given powers to SIT to take required additional staff, technical and forensic support from various wings of the police department to conduct the investigation.

The SIT has been directed to complete the investigation in an expeditious manner.

The investigation team will probe the allegations of wrongful confinement, murder and causing disappearance of evidence against Nagaraju, suspended Circle Inspector of Krishna Lanka police station.

Meanwhile, the noose is tightening around Nagaraju, who has been booked on a complaint by Gade Vijaya Lakshmi, mother of Gade Sai Krishna.

Task Force police were interrogating Nagaraju at his residence in Singh Nagar since Monday morning. The suspended SHO is likely to be arrested after questioning.

A case against him was registered on June 19 under sections 127 (4), 127 (6), 103 (1) and 238 of Bharat Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Vijaya Lakshmi alleged that her son was tortured and beaten to death in custody.

According to her, police had picked up Sai Krishna on May 9 for questioning in a case, and he had not returned since.

She filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the High Court, which directed the Krishna Lanka police to produce the victim before it on June 15. As the police could not produce Sai Krishna, the High Court directed the police to produce him by June 29.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on June 17 ordered a probe by a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer into the case. He also ordered suspension of Circle Inspector Nagaraju.

Police have recorded the statement of Vijaya Lakshmi and some others. They also collected CCTV footage from various locations and gathered other technical evidence.

Following allegations by Sai Krishna’s mother that the police official cremated him after beating him to death, the investigation team collected the records at a crematorium in Krishna Lanka. The investigating officials have collected details of all unclaimed bodies cremated between May 23 and May 26.

Last week, the Second Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate court directed the police to preserve the CCTV footage of the Krishnalanka police station from May 1 to June 1. The court also directed the police to produce the call data records (CDRs) of the mobile phones of Sai Krishna and his mother for the same period, to establish their locations.