VIJAYAWADA: The sensational case of alleged lockup death case took an unexpected turn on Wednesday after Gade Vijayalakshmi, the mother of the deceased youth Gade Sai Krishna, has informed the High Court that she has not withdrawn her petition seeking a CBI probe into her son’s custodial death.
Appearing before a division bench of Justices Ravinath Tilhari and Chintalapudi Purushotham Kumar, Vijayalakshmi’s counsel Gudivaka Vasudevudu submitted that advocate Koganti Rithvika had filed a petition seeking withdrawal of the CBI probe plea without the petitioner’s knowledge, consent or instructions. He told the court that Vijayalakshmi had engaged him to represent her and had executed a fresh vakalat in his favour.
The counsel informed the bench that despite requesting a No Objection Certificate (NOC) and the case records from Rithvika, there had been no response. He sought permission to file his vakalat without the NOC, citing circumstances.
After examining the fresh petition, the High Court observed that the allegations were “very serious” and directed that notice be issued to advocate Rithvika. The bench said it would take an appropriate decision only after hearing her version and adjourned the matter to Thursday.
During the hearing, the government informed the HC that five of the six accused in the lockup death case had been arrested, while one is on the run.
In a separate hearing, a bench headed by Chief Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Challa Gunaranjan directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to place the latest progress of the investigation before the court. The bench also asked the SIT to produce the Supreme Court’s orders relating to the police custody of former Krishnalanka Police Station Inspector Nagaraju, the prime accused in the case.
The court further issued these directions while hearing a public interest litigation seeking transfer of the investigation to the CBI.
