HYDERABAD: An inspector of police and a sub-inspector of Bhimadole town in Andhra Pradesh’s Eluru district were suspended on Thursday after the death of a 38-year-old chain snatcher allegedly by suicide in police custody on Wednesday, said an official statement from the state police department.
After a direction from director general of police (DGP) K V Rajendranath Reddy, Eluru range deputy inspector general G Pala Raju suspended Bhimadole inspector of police M Subba Rao and SI Veerabhadra Rao for their alleged dereliction of duty leading to the death of an accused by suicide in the custody.
A suspect in a chain snatching case, M Appa Rao of Pothunuru village, Denduluru block allegedly died by hanging in the bathroom of Bhimadole police station on Wednesday.
Eluru district superintendent of police Rahul Dev Sharma said Appa Rao had his breakfast as usual in the morning and went for a shower later. He took a curtain and used it to hang himself in the bathroom,” he said, adding that police broke open the door to rescue him and shifted him to the hospital, where he was pronounced brought dead.
The Bhimadole police registered a case of custodial death and took up the investigation. The district administration ordered a probe by revenue divisional officer KP Kishore into the incident.
{{/usCountry}}The Bhimadole police registered a case of custodial death and took up the investigation. The district administration ordered a probe by revenue divisional officer KP Kishore into the incident.
{{/usCountry}}Soon after receiving the information, his family members – father M Nageshwara Rao, mother Nagamani, wife Swathi and brother Shiv Shankar – staged a dharna in front of the police station along with representatives of Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPI (Maxist), demanding action against the police officials responsible for his death.
Shiv Shankar told reporters that the police had taken Appa Rao into custody on April 29 on charges of chain snatching. “The police had tortured him for the last three days and he died by suicide because of the police torture,” he alleged.
Appa Rao’s wife Swathi said her husband was not a timid person to commit suicide. “The police beat him to death in the custody and was portraying it as a suicide,” she alleged.