Telangana High Court on Thursday has suo moto taken up for hearing as writ petition a news report published in The Hindu over the death of an autorickshaw driver who was picked up by Tukaram Gate police of Hyderabad in a theft case.
A bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji made Principal Home Secretary, Director General of Police, Hyderabad Police Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) along with two other police officers as respondents in the suo moto taken up writ petition. Along with these top officials, Gopalapuram Assistant Commissioner of Police and Tukaramgate Station House Officer (Inspector) were also made fifth and sixth respondents respectively.
The Hindu news report published on Thursday stated that the driver’s family members said that two men picked up Chiranjeevi from his house in Bhupeshnagar on Tuesday. His mother told scribes that the two men who took away Chiranjeevi said they would set him free in half an hour. According to them, they wanted to question him in a theft case.
While one of the ‘two men’ claimed that he was from Meerpet police station, the other maintained that he was from L.B. Nagar police station. Around 10.30 p.m. on Tuesday, police came to the driver’s house and informed his family that Chiranjeevi ‘died after having fits’. According to his family members, an injury on the driver’s head and his swollen legs suggested that he was tied and beaten up.
They alleged that Chiranjeevi died due to third-degree methods of questioning by the police. While his family members accused police of torturing him, the latter said that a case of suspicious death under section of Criminal Procedure Code was registered over the driver’s death. The precise reasons of his death would come to the fore after post-mortem examination, the investigators said.
The petition was listed for hearing on Friday.
