AP high court directs IPS officer Sunil Naik to appear before investigating officer in custodial torture case

Vijayawada: While granting interim protection from arrest, the Andhra Pradesh high court on Monday directed the Bihar cadre IPS officer Sunil Naik, presently working as inspector general of police (IGP), to appear before the investigating officer on or before March 5, in connection with the custodial torture case.Guntur police registered a case after a complaint lodged by deputy speaker K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, who alleged that he was tortured by crime investigation department (CID) police in custody with an intent to kill him.

Andhra Pradesh police recently made a futile attempt to arrest Sunil Naik, who worked as DIG in APCID at the time of the alleged incident. Sunil was on deputation to AP during the previous govt. After a local court in Patna rejected a transit warrant to AP police, Sunil moved the High Court for anticipatory bail.

Arguing on behalf of Sunil, senior counsel Parameswar said that the case was politically motivated. He said that the petitioner's name was not in the FIR, and police did not arrest the senior officials in the department. As part of his official duties, the petitioner arrested Raju in connection with a case and shifted him from Hyderabad to Mangalagiri. He said his role in the case ended there, adding that even the other witnesses stated that he was present at the time of the alleged incident, but no one said he was involved in custodial torture.

Arguing on behalf of the police, senior counsel Siddharth Luthra said that the magistrate in Patna rejected a transit warrant on account of procedural lapses in the arrest. Luthra said that Sunil gave an undertaking to the Bihar High Court stating that he would cooperate with the investigation, but he did not mention the same in his petition for anticipatory bail, which was nothing but suppression of fact. He said that his custodial interrogation is needed to know the details as to who was present at the time of the incident and who tortured Raju.

He said that the Guntur court also rejected the anticipatory bail application as he was not cooperating with the investigation, Luthra said.Considering the arguments on both sides, Justice Venkata Jyothirmayee Prathapa observed that there is no need to include the names of all the accused at the FIR stage. She directed Sunil to appear before the investigating officer on or before March 5. Justice Jyothirmayee further directed him to appear before the investigating officer every day until further orders, and posted the matter for further hearing on March 9.