The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Andhra Pradesh police probing the mysterious disappearance of 25-year-old Gade Sai Krishna in Vijayawada in May, has confirmed that he was beaten to death by the Krishnalanka police at an abandoned building on May 12, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.
All the three were suspended pending investigation. He was allegedly taken by Ashok Kumar to an abandoned building at Ranigarithota, where he found Sai Krishna in a severely weakened condition. Subsequently, Sai Krishna reportedly collapsed and became unconscious and on checking his pulse, the police realised that he had died.
The SIT, headed by inspector general of police M Ravi Prakash and comprised West Godavari superintendent of police Adnan Naveen Asmi, Alluri Sitarama Raju SP Amit Bardar and Bapatla additional SP L Sudhakar as members, was constituted on June 21, after the missing of Sai Krishna triggered a state-wide outrage. On June 23, the SIT arrested Krishnalanka inspector of police SSV Nagaraju and on June 29, two head constables, Potharlanka Ashok Kumar and Jangam Nani, surrendered before the SIT authorities. The remand report stated that Suresh had allegedly witnessed Sai Krishna being questioned at the Krishnalanka police station on May 7 by then inspector Nagaraju and head constables Ashok and Nani. Suresh subsequently travelled to Nepal with his friends and returned to Vijayawada on May 11. “On May 12 at around 10.30 am, Suresh went to the police station to meet Nagaraju. “On the night of May 12, the two head constables shifted the body to the crematorium on a motor bike, while Suresh accompanied them.
The deceased told Suresh that he had been beaten every day since being brought to the building with the intention of killing him,” the SIT said. They remained at the crematorium until the body was completely burnt,” the SIT report said. After confirming that Sai Krishna had died, the police clandestinely took his body to the Swargapuri crematorium near the Krishnalanka police station and cremated it the same night, the SIT authorities told a local court in Vijayawada on Friday.
The SIT charged Suresh, a real estate broker, with helping Nagaraju and the head constables in shifting Sai Krishna’s body to the crematorium and later bringing pressure on the deceased’s family members to withdraw the complaint as part of a compromise formula.
