VIJAYAWADA: Bihar cadre IPS officer and former AP CID Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) M Sunil Kumar Naik appeared before the police officials for questioning in the alleged custodial torture case involving former Narsapur MP and current Assembly Deputy Speaker Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju on Thursday.
The questioning took place at the CCS police station in Guntur and continued until around 5 pm for more than 7 hours. The interrogation was conducted by AR Damodar, Vizianagaram district SP, who is the investigating officer in the case.
It may be recalled that a case has been registered at Nagarampalem police station following a complaint from Raghuram Krishnam Raju alleging custodial torture during the YSRCP regime. As per the complaint, it occurred after Raju was arrested in May 2021 from his residence in Hyderabad when he was serving as the Narasapur MP. He was later shifted to the CID regional office in Guntur, where he was reportedly kept overnight, where he was allegedly subjected to custodial torture by CID officials headed by former Chief PV Sunil Kumar and others.
Police found that Sunil Naik, who was then serving as DIG in the CID, had visited the Guntur CID regional office multiple times on the night Raju was held. Based on these, he was named A-7 in the case.
Police had issued several notices asking Naik to appear for questioning, but he failed to respond. Authorities later travelled to Patna in Bihar and detained him. However, they could not bring him to Andhra Pradesh due to the absence of a transit warrant. Subsequently, Naik approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking anticipatory bail.
While hearing the plea, the HC directed him to cooperate with the probe and appear before the investigating officer for questioning from March 5 to 9. Officials said the first day lasted nearly seven hours, and further interrogation will continue over the next four days as part of ongoing investigation.