HYDERABAD: The High Court has issued a notice to the Telangana government asking it to respond on a petition which challenged inaction of the authorities in punishing the police officers responsible who allegedly confined one P Kanna Reddy, an engineering graduate from Erravalli village in Vikarabad district, and torturing him which damaged his kidneys.
Justice Challa Kodandaram was dealing with a plea filed by Kanna Reddy against the inaction of the SP against Mominpet CI and other police officers K Raju, Raghu, M Veeraswamy, Vasu, M Venkataiah, K Shankaraiah, B Shivaiah and Raghavender, and Neeraja, an employee of agriculture department, and her husband Veerabhadreswar Rao despite registration of an FIR against them on May 29.
The case of the petitioner was that he wanted to set up a fertilizer business in Mominpet along with his brother Shekar Reddy and they applied for licence in March but Neeraja did not process the application for two months. He alleged that he demanded a bribe and when they refused to pay it, there was a confrontation between them and it was recorded on his cell phone.
Later, the officer lodged a complaint with Mominpet police alleging that he and his brother had been harassing her and obstructing her from performing duties. They were taken into custody and subjected to police brutality and were forced to delete the audio clips. His health deteriorated due to police torture and was admitted to a private hospital for treatment.
The petitioner submitted that the doctors found both his kidneys damaged. When he approached Vikarabad SP, a case was registered against Mominpet SI Raju and others who included Neeraja and her husband.
He sought court’s directions to police for action against the accused. Citing damage to his kidneys, he also sought court’s directions to the government to pay him Rs 2 crore in compensation for the permanent disability caused to him by police torture. The judge issued notices to the respondent authorities asking them to file their counter affidavits.