Telangana HC orders judicial probe into alleged suicide of Saidabad rape accused
It directed the police department to submit a report in the sealed cover within four weeks.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High court on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the alleged suicide of P Raju, an accused in the rape and murder of Saidabad minor girl.
Prof Gaddam Laxman, president of State Civil Liberties Committee, today filed a public interest litigation petition (PIL) before the Telangana High court upon which the acting chief Justice MS Ramchandra Rao posted the matter post lunch for hearing.
The petitioner contended that P Raju who was arrayed as an absconding in FIR No.344/2021 of Saidabad police station did not commit suicide but the police has killed him. He also informed court that the police have tried to project killing as suicide.
Meanwhile, advocate general B Prasad denied the allegations and said that the accused has committed suicide and the police have recorded the statement of seven witnesses in this regard and the postmorterm has been videographed.
Upon hearing the arguments, a bench comprising acting chief justice MS Ramchandra Rao and Justice T Vinod Kumar ordered a judicial inquiry and directed the third metropolitan magistrate of Warangal court to probe the issue.
The court has also directed the magistrate to submit a detailed report in a sealed cover within four weeks.
On September 9, the minor girl was found raped and murdered in an area under Saidabad police station limits in Hyderabad . The six-year-old’s body was found at the residence of the accused later that day, after which he has been absconding.
After pressure mounted on the police department over its alleged failure to track down the culprit nearly a week after the incident, a reward of Rs. 10 lakh was announced for any information leading to the arrest of the accused.
However, on Thursday, the accused was found dead on a railway track in the limits of Ghanpur police station in Warangal. Soon after this, his family members claimed that police killed him and projected it as a suicide.
