Custodial death: Division bench of Telangana High Court expresses concern

Division bench of the Telangana High Court was dealing with a public interest litigation case pertaining to the alleged custodial death of Nitish Kumar on the premises of Gachibowli Police Station

Hyderabad: The division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili and Justice N Rajeshwar Rao on Thursday expressed concern over the death of Nitish Kumar, a resident of Bihar, and said it was an unfortunate incident. The bench was dealing with a public interest litigation case pertaining to the alleged custodial death of Nitish Kumar on the premises of Gachibowli Police Station.

A newspaper had reported that Nitish, who was working as a security guard at Nanakramguda in a construction company, was taken into custody on Saturday night and died in police custody. Taking cognisance of a letter written by a practising advocate, the bench suo moto took up the issue as PIL.

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The Gachibowli police, refuting the allegations, submitted before the court that Nitish died due to a heart attack. James Babu, the Inspector, said following a scuffle at the construction site between the workers and Nitish, the police had detained him along with two other workers on Saturday night. He said they had proof of Nitish’s every movement in the police station from his detention to death.

The police asserted that Nitish collapsed in the cell and they immediately called an ambulance and also performed CPR on him, but Nitish was dead by the time he reached hospital. The bench adjourned the case for further hearing.

ORR records

The same bench directed the Secretary, Municipal Administration and HMDA Commissioner to furnish all GOs, records and documents related to the construction of Nehru Outer Ring Road, including the concessional agreement entered with IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd and IRB Golconda Express Highway. The bench was dealing with a PIL case filed by K Mahesh Kumar of Hyderabad. The petitioner alleged that all the records were kept secret without uploading them online. He further said the concessional agreements were entered in violation of the HMDA Act. The bench adjourned the case to August 17 for the response of authorities.

Sewerage flow

The same bench directed the GHMC and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to take action for stopping sewerage flow into Vanam Cheruvu of Tellapur. The bench was dealing with a writ plea filed by Mallepally Lalitha, Chairperson of Tellapur Municipal Council. The petitioner complained about the inconvenience caused to Nallagandla and Tellapur villages due to the inflow of sewerage water into Vanam Cheruvu. The bench taking note that the establishment of a sewerage treatment plant had commenced in October 2022 and work was under way, directed the authorities to complete the treatment plant by December 2023. Accordingly, it disposed of the case.