SIT begins interrogation of suspended CI Nagaraju in Vijayawada custodial death case after Supreme Court order

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Vijayawada: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged custodial death of 25-year-old Gade Sai Krishna in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada on Thursday took Circle Inspector (CI) S.S.V.V. Nagaraju into custody for questioning.

After the Supreme Court granted seven days of police custody to interrogate the suspended police officer, who is the main accused in the alleged custodial death case, the SIT took him into custody from Rajamahendravaram Central Prison and shifted him to Vijayawada.

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As per the direction of the Supreme Court, the SIT produced him before the court in Vijayawada before taking him into custody for questioning.

The SIT, headed by Inspector General of Police M. Ravi Prakash, had arrested Nagaraju and four constables on charges of wrongful confinement, torture, custodial death and destroying evidence in the case.

The Supreme Court on Monday relaxed several conditions imposed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on the custodial interrogation of Nagaraju.

Allowing an appeal filed by the state government, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta had held that restricting interrogation to Rajamahendravaram Central prison is unworkable and unjustified. The court observed that this will hamper the investigation.

SIT had submitted to the apex court that as the victim’s body is yet to be traced and CCTV hard disks are yet to be recovered, key facts may come to light during the interrogation.

The bench observed that SIT must be free to take the accused to relevant locations rather than questioning at a prison 160 km away from the crime scene.

The apex court allowed SIT to interrogate the accused at its designated interrogation centre or any other secure facility in Vijayawada.

Sai Krishna had died of alleged torture in police custody at Krishna Lanka police station of NTR Police Commissionerate in May this year.

His mother, Gade Vijaya Lakshmi, alleged that her son was illegally detained, tortured severely, and beaten to death. Later, police cremated the body and destroyed the evidence, she alleged.

Sai Krishna, who had some cases and non-bailable warrants pending against him, was picked up at Markapuram on May 6 and was shifted to Krishna Lanka police station. He was kept in illegal custody, and he subsequently disappeared.

A case was registered on June 19 under sections 127 (4), 127 (6), 103 (1) and 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on the complaint of Vijaya Lakshmi.

The SIT arrested Nagaraju on June 23. Later, it also arrested two head constables and two constables who allegedly assisted Nagaraju.