Vijayawada: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Andhra Pradesh Police on Monday filed the chargesheet in a court here in the alleged custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna.
The chargesheet has been filed against then Krishnalanka police station Circle Inspector (Station House Officer) S.S.V.V. Nagaraju, who is Accused No.1 in the case, and six other accused.
The SIT submitted evidence of the arrest of Sai Krishna (25), his physical torture in custody resulting in his death and the cremation of the body by the accused to destroy evidence.
Head constables Ashok Kumar and Nani, Nagaraju’s associate Gulivindala Suresh, constables Babu Rao and Sambaiah, and home guard Venkat are the other accused.
Sai Krishna had disappeared after he was picked up by the police on May 6. His family alleged that he was beaten to death in the lockup and his body was disposed of at a crematorium.
A case was registered on June 19 under sections 127 (4), 127 (6), 103 (1) and 238 of Bharat Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on a complaint by Sai Krishna’s mother, Vijaya Lakshmi, who alleged that her son was tortured and beaten to death in custody.
After she filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court, the state government constituted an SIT to probe the case.
The SIT, headed by Inspector General (Law and Order) M. Ravi Prakash, arrested the suspended SHO on June 21.
The chargesheet has been filed four days after Suresh surrendered in court.
According to the SIT, Suresh confessed that he had seen Sai Krishna in the police station during interrogation, and later at a private house at Ranigari Thota, where he reportedly died on May 12.
Suresh told SIT that Nagaraju, head constables Ashok Kumar and Nani cremated the body to destroy the evidence.
The investigations revealed that the NTR Commissionerate’s Task Force police, along with the Krishnalanka police, went to Markapuram on May 5, 2026, and picked up Sai Krishna, against whom two Non-Bailable Warrants (NBWs) were pending. He was handed over to Krishnalanka police on the next day.
Suresh told SIT that when he went to the police station on May 12, Nagaraju took him to a private vacant building, located at Ranigari Thota, where Sai Krishna was seen in pathetic condition on May 12. The victim reportedly told Suresh that he was being beaten severely every day since he was brought to the police station.
Suresh told the investigating officials that Sai Krishna collapsed while he was talking to him. The two head constables checked the pulse of the victim and confirmed that he had died.
On Nagaraju’s direction, the head constables shifted the body after wrapping it with a blanket on a two-wheeler to Swargapuri crematorium, around midnight on the same day, and Suresh followed them on a bike. The trio cremated the body.
Nagaraju and Suresh visited the crematorium on May 18 to verify the place where Sai Krishna’s body was cremated and checked if any remains of the victim were left.
The investigation also revealed that Nagaraju met Sai Krishna’s maternal uncles, Mullapudi Navarang and Nageswara Rao and tried to reach a compromise by offering money, but they refused.
(IANS)
