VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged illegal confinement of three persons by the Guntur district police. The CBI will also have to submit a report on its investigation to the court.A bench of Justice Rakesh Kumar and Justice D Ramesh passed orders to this effect after the police differed with a report submitted by the principal senior civil judge, who, on the directions of the court, looked into the allegations that the trio were illegally confined by the police.
The case pertains to the disappearance of three persons — Nalabolu Adinarayana, Rayudi Srinivasa Rao and Tumati Srinivasa Rao — from their respective residences after which their relatives approached the Guntur and Pattabhiuram police and a missing case was registered on October 14, 2019. The relatives also submitted a representation to the Guntur Urban Superintendent of Police seeking action based on their complaint.
Trio vanished from their residences in October, 2019
As the police failed to trace the missing persons, their relatives filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court on October 30 seeking its intervention to get the police to produce the missing persons in court.
The Principal Secretary (home department), Guntur Urban SP, and Guntur CCS DSP were made respondents, while CCS Circle Inspector Venkat Rao was also made a respondent in his personal capacity. The court asked the police to submit a report on the petition.
Meanwhile, the trio were produced before the court on October 31 by the Chebrolu police in a cricket betting case. When they were produced before a magistrate, they said they were in police custody since October 14. The petitioners produced the statements made by the trio before the High Court.Going through the statements of the three persons, the High Court instructed the Guntur district principal civil judge to inquire into the role of the police behind the confinement of the trio and submit a report.
The civil judge submitted the report to the court when the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday. As the court started to look into the report, the police differed with its contents. With this, the Bench ordered the CBI to probe the alleged illegal confinement of the trio by the police and submit a report. The matter was posted to June 17 for further hearing.