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Custodial torture case: IPS officer from Bihar held, released by court
A Patna court has barred Andhra Pradesh police from taking action against IPS officer M Sunil Kumar Naik for 30 days amid a custodial torture case.
The court of the additional chief judicial magistrate in Patna on Monday directed the Andhra Pradesh police not to take any coercive action for 30 days against 2005-batch IPS officer M Sunil Kumar Naik in connection with an alleged custodial torture case of 2021.
Naik, currently posted as inspector general (IG), home guards and fire services in Bihar, was produced before the court by a team of Andhra Pradesh CID officials who had sought a prisoner transit remand to take him to Guntur. The court, however, declined to grant transit remand, citing procedural lapses.
Speaking to reporters outside the court premises, Naik’s counsel Amit Srivastava claimed that the Andhra Pradesh police failed to produce a valid arrest warrant and necessary documents related to transit remand. “After hearing both sides, the court directed that no coercive action be taken against the officer for 30 days,” he said.
Patna (City) SP Bhanu Pratap Singh said the Andhra Pradesh police had picked up Naik from his official residence around 6 am and later approached the local police for assistance in producing him before the court.
“The court noted procedural lapses and set him free. He will not be treated as having been arrested,” Singh said.
The case pertains to allegations by Andhra Pradesh assembly deputy speaker K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju that he was subjected to custodial torture in May 2021 after his arrest in a sedition case.
Raju, who had won from Narsapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2019 on a YSRCP ticket, had turned rebel and started criticising then chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. Before 2024 elections, he defected to the TDP and won the assembly elections from Undi assembly constituency in West Godavari district. He was later elected as deputy speaker of the assembly.
On July 11 2024, the Nagarapalem police in Guntur district registered a case based on his complaint alleging that he was subject to custodial torture.
Apart from Naik, the police registered an FIR against then chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, former intelligence chief P S R Anjaneyulu, former CID chief PV Sunil Kumar, retired additional superintendent of police Vijay Paul and the then superintendent of Guntur Government Hospital Dr Neelam Prabhavati.
The case includes charges of criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, forgery and criminal intimidation under various sections of the IPC.
