Telangana high court directs Hyderabad CP to probe custodial death

HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Wednesday directed Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar to inquire into the Manthani lock-up death case and file a report, wondering the post-mortem on Seelam Rangaiah was done in the presence of a magistrate.


It said the director general of police should take action against the errant cops based on the CP's findings.

The bench also issued notices to the state government, DGP and others and posted the case to June 5.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy gave this interim directive, while hearing a PIL filed by advocate PV Nagamani.. She brought to the notice of the court the custodial death of Rangaiah inside the police station of Manthani in Peddapalli district in the wee hours of May 25.

K Gopal, counsel for the petitioner, described the death as a murder and sought a re-postmortem. Rangaiah was named as an accused in a case of killing animals through electric fencing. He was taken into custody on May 22, but his arrest was shown only on May 24. During this illegal detention, he was kept in the police station. On May 25, Rangaiah was declared dead. "It was a clear case of murder," he argued.

The bench told him that the body was already cremated and hence it cannot order a re-postmortem.