Vijayawada, June 21 (IANS). Andhra Pradesh Police has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the custodial death of 25-year-old youth Sai Krishna in Vijayawada. Inspector General (Law and Order) M. Ravi Prakash Gade will head the SIT.
According to a government order issued by Chief Secretary Sai Prasad, West Godavari Superintendent of Police Adnan Nayeem Asmi and Alluri Sitamaraju SP Amit Baradar will be its members. Additional SP of Bapatla district L. Sudhakar has been made the Investigation Officer.
The government has given the SIT the authority to take necessary extra staff, technical and forensic support from different wings of the police department for investigation.
The investigation team will investigate charges of illegal detention, murder and destruction of evidence against suspended Circle Inspector Nagaraju of Krishna Lanka police station.
A case was registered against Nagaraju on June 19 on the complaint of Sai Krishna’s mother Gade Vijaya Lakshmi.
The Task Force police has been interrogating Nagaraju at his residence in Singh Nagar since Monday morning. There is a possibility of arrest of the suspended SHO after interrogation.
The police had picked up Sai Krishna for questioning in a case on May 9 and he has not returned since then. Vijaya Lakshmi alleged that her son was tortured and beaten to death in custody.
He filed a Habeas Corpus petition in the High Court, which directed the Krishna Lanka Police to produce the victim in the court on June 15. Since 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 senior IPS officer to investigate this matter. He also ordered to suspend Circle Inspector Nagaraju.
Police have recorded the statement of Vijaya Lakshmi and some other people. They also collected CCTV footage from different places and other technical evidence.
Following Sai Krishna’s mother’s allegation that the police officer had cremated her after beating her to death, the investigation team collected records from a cremation ground in Krishna Lanka. The investigating officers have collected the details of all the unclaimed dead bodies which were cremated between May 23 and 26.
Last week, the Second Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate Court had directed the police to preserve the CCTV footage of Krishna Lanka Police Station from May 1 to June 1. The court also directed the police to produce the call data records of the mobile phones of Sai Krishna and his mother from the same time so that their location could be traced.
–IANS
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