West Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) A. Venkateswara Rao rubbished allegations made by IAS officer D. Venkareshwara Rao in an interview to a local news channel that some police officials sought bribe to hush up the murder case, in which the civil servant and his son D. Venkat Sukruth were arrested on March 21.
B. Nagaraju, Sukruth’s driver, was murdered by the latter in the intervening night of March 17 and 18 at the terrace of an apartment building, after they went to drink alcohol, the police said.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, the DCP said that legal action will be considered against the accused for making allegations. “There is absolutely no truth in what is being reported. The IAS officer himself had come along with his son to the apartment at Yousufguda to take away and hide Nagaraju’s body to conceal evidence,” he said.
It was reported that Venkateshwara Rao had alleged that the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Punjagutta, had offered to hush up the murder and had asked a huge sum of money for it. Police officials said that the IAS officer knows the ACP as they were both in the same batch of sub-inspectors who joined the State police, before the IAS officer joined the State civil services.
Mr. Rao also mentioned that Venkateshwara Rao was earlier arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2011 for having disproportionate assets. Another senior official also said that the IAS officer and his wife were legally separated, but still ‘moving around’ with each other.
On Wednesday, Venkateshwara Rao was sent to judicial remand for 14 days after he was out of the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences. He refused to eat food and was not cooperating with the police, said officials.
