CI, SI, constable suspended for projecting murder as suicide

TIRUPATI: Three policemen of Tirupati police district were suspended after they projected a murder as suicide, with a view to helping the accused in the case. One was a circle inspector while the others were a sub inspector and a constable.

According to Tirupati SP Venkata Appala Naidu, whose laudable intervention helped, based on the enquiry report, Anantapur range DIG (In-Charge) Venkatarami Reddy issued orders relieving the three cops from their duties and placing them under suspension until further orders. The three cops were Chiranjeevi, the Vadamalapeta SI; Amarnath Reddy, the Renigunta Rural CI and Sobhanadri, a constable attached to RC Puram PS.

As per the case, Kapileswaraiah (75) of Anupalli in RC Puram mandal was having three sons - Umapathi (49), Hema Sundar (48) and Edu Bhushan (46). Together, they owned  7.5 acres of agricultural land.

As the father and his two sons  --Umapathi and Bhushan -- had disputes with Hema Sundar over sharing the land among them, they allegedly killed him by hitting him on his head with a rock. Then, they hanged his body to the ceiling in their house with an intention to make it appear as suicide.

They later informed Hema's wife Uma Maheshwari that her husband had hanged himself in a rage and fell to the ground when the rope severed, and that this caused injuries on the head.

Suspecting that her brothers-in-law and her father-in-law might have killed her husband, Uma photographed the injuries on Hema’s head and gathered some clues at the spot.

Taking the evidence to the police, she tried to lodge a complaint against her relatives. But the police personnel, who allegedly came under the influence of the accused by that time, registered the case as a suicide.

She then met SP Naidu on the grievance day last Monday, and submitted the photographs and evidence she had collected from the spot.

Responding to this, SP Naidu immediately sent the three police personnel to VR and conducted a departmental inquiry, which reportedly exposed the connivance of the three personnel with the accused in the murder case.

Considering the SP’s petition against the three arrested police personnel, the DIG issued orders suspending the three from service.

Confirming the episode, the SP said that stern action would be taken against those involved in activities like betrayal, corruption, and show of disloyalty in the department. He urged the public to approach the higher officials in case they faced any injustice from the investigating cops.