Robbery suspect dies in police custody

Nellore: A 60 year old person died in police custody in Kovur late on Wednesday night, prompting allegations of torture from family members and civil rights activists. According to information, Kovur police took into custody P Ramanaiah of Pellakuru Ramachandrareddy Colony following a complaint from Satyavati, 85, of NTS Colony alleging he was involved in a robbery that took place in her house earlier.

Wife, rights activist blame police torture and denial of medicine for the death of 60-year-old man

Police brought Ramanaiah to the police station at about 5 pm and at midnight, he reportedly fell sick. He was shifted to local community health centre for treatment where doctors declared him brought dead. Contradicting the version of police, Ramanaiah’s wife Subbamma alleged that her husband died due to torture by police, who she said had refused to allow him to take his daily dose of medicine.

“I pleaded with the circle inspector to send my husband home for a few minutes to take the medicine, but he refused and insisted that Ramanaiah would stay in police station until interrogation is completed. They are responsible for his death,” she said.

However, police in turn, are trying to blame Subbamma herself for the death of her husband. They said both Ramanaiah and his wife had criminal antecedents. Rural DSP Dr K Tirumaleswar Reddy said police personnel had not interrogated Ramanaiah and his estranged wife Subbamma was also present during the identification process. “Ramanaiah was already sick when he was brought to station and was having a difficulty in breathing. Police immediately shifted him to the hospital for treatment,” he explained.

The DSP also said that Ramanaiah’s wife had offered something to him and they were trying to identify what the accused had consumed. “The details of the substance would be known in the forensic lab report. There was no manhandling or any other form of torture as part of investigation in the police station,” Tirumaleswar Reddy said.

Huge police forces were deployed at Kovur community health centre where the body of the victim was lying to prevent any untoward incident. Civil rights activists visited the hospital and enquired about the incident.

“Police had tortured Ramanaiah mentally and physically for around three hours suspecting his role in a robbery case. They brought him and his wife to the police station at about 5 pm on Wednesday. Police took the accused into CI’s room and tortured him following which he fell sick in the station.

Though he was shifted to Kovur community health centre, there was no medical staff to treat him there he died due to lack of medical care,” said Ellanki Venkateswarlu, district president of AP Civil Liberties Committee. Police had not given even an opportunity to Ramanaiah to take medicine though he was diabetic, he added.