Andhra custodial death: Congress demands CBI probe, alleges SIT missed key evidence

The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Monday demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) take over the inquiry into the alleged custodial death of 25-year-old Gade Sai Krishna, alleging that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case had failed to gather vital evidence.

In a press release, APCC vice-president Kolanukonda Shivaji said investigating officials had shifted the scene of the alleged lock-up death from the Krishnalanka police station to a private building, even though the incident is said to have occurred inside the police station. He also asked why investigators had not seized CCTV footage from the Krishnalanka police station or from the route to Swargapuri crematorium, where Sai Krishna's body is alleged to have been cremated.

Mr. Shivaji pointed to an apparent contradiction in the accounts available so far. Sai Krishna's mother, G. Vijaya Lakshmi, has said she saw her son crying in pain at the police station, while the SIT has said that the fourth accused, G. Suresh, saw him at an abandoned building where he died, the Congress leader said. He argued that only an independent agency could conduct a fair investigation.

What is known about the case

Sai Krishna went missing after personnel from the Krishnalanka police station picked him up at Markapuram in May. His mother's habeas corpus petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court brought the case into public view. Circle Inspector S.S.V.V. Nagaraju was arrested on June 23 on charges of torturing Sai Krishna to death and disposing of the body. The state government subsequently constituted an SIT under Inspector General of Police M. Ravi Prakash.

The SIT has told a magistrate's court that staff at the police station deleted its CCTV footage. G. Suresh, the fourth accused, surrendered before the SIT on September 17 after months in hiding.

The legal framework

Under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the CBI can investigate a case in a state only with the consent of that state government, unless a constitutional court orders otherwise. The Supreme Court and High Courts have, in several rulings, transferred investigations to the CBI where they found that a fair probe by state agencies was not possible.

Indian law also requires a magisterial inquiry into every death in police custody, and the National Human Rights Commission has laid down guidelines for the prompt reporting and investigation of such deaths.

None of the allegations made by the Congress has been established in court. The SIT inquiry is continuing, and all accused in the case are entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

What happens next depends on two things: whether the state government accepts the demand for a CBI probe, and whether the High Court, where the matter has already been heard once, decides to intervene on its own.