A city court in Vijayawada has placed the suspended Circle Inspector S.S.V.V. Nagaraju, the primary suspect in the Gade Sai Krishna custodial death case, under police custody for eight days. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been instructed to question Nagaraju at Rajamahendravaram Jail, where he is currently held under judicial custody. The court has permitted daily interrogation from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the presence of Nagaraju’s lawyer, with audio and video recording mandated.
Sai Krishna, a 25-year-old, went missing after being taken into police custody on May 6. Allegations from his family suggest that he was fatally beaten while in custody, and his body was disposed of at an electric crematorium. Sai Krishna, who had prior legal issues, was apprehended in Markapuram and later transferred to Krishna Lanka police station, where he vanished under suspicious circumstances.
The SIT, led by Inspector General M. Ravi Prakash, is investigating claims of illegal detention, murder, and tampering with evidence against the suspended Circle Inspector of Krishna Lanka police station. Legal action was initiated on June 19 based on a complaint by Sai Krishna’s mother, Vijaya Lakshmi, accusing her son of being tortured and killed while in custody.
Nagaraju was arrested by the SIT on June 23 and subsequently remanded to judicial custody until July 8. The SIT informed the court that Sai Krishna succumbed to injuries sustained during his time in custody and that crucial CCTV footage from the police station had been intentionally erased. Further intensifying the probe, the SIT apprehended constables Babu Rao and Sambaiah for their alleged involvement in destroying CCTV evidence.
The two constables, accused number five and six, were presented before a Second ACM Court and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Their arrests bring the total number of individuals detained in connection with the case to five. Additionally, the SIT is reportedly interrogating another suspect, Suresh, believed to be an associate of Nagaraju. Head constables Ashok and Nani turned themselves in to the police on June 29 and were also placed in judicial custody.
