The Madannapet temple desecration case took a twist on Wednesday when one of the four arrested persons, N. Nagaraju, complained to the court that the police tortured him forcing him to confess to the offence.
The magistrate sought explanation from the Special Investigation Team Inspector, Murali Krishna, following the allegation while directing the Chanchalguda prison superintendent to extend medical treatment to Nagaraju at the OGH.
The 14{+t}{+h}Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, R. Radha Devi, said Nagaraju can also be taken to any private hospital for treatment.
Nagaraju, 29, GHMC sanitation contract supervisor from Kurmaguda, was arrested along with three other Hindus of the same locality, five days ago on charge of creating communal disturbances by planting cow's legs in a temple and sprinkling paint on the temple wall in the first week of April. The quartet was accused of desecrating the temple at the behest of Niranjan Yadav and Srinivas, of the same area.
Nagaraju and his associates, Kiran Kumar, Ramesh and Dayanand Singh, were later remanded in judicial custody. The case took a curious turn when the Madannapet police brought Nagaraju from the prison to the court seeking his custody in connection with some communal cases registered in 2010 following outbreak of violence after Hanuman Jayanti rally.
Nagaraju's lawyer, K.K. Sagar, had already filed a petition stating that the police had picked up his client from the residence on April 23. He was taken to the Hyderabad Police Commissioner's Task Force office in Secunderabad where he was tortured for five days, the affidavit said.
They collected a false confession from Nagaraju using third degree methods, the lawyer said. “They tortured and threatened me to own up the offence. I am in no way connected to the case,” Nagaraju, who could not raise his arms and had difficulty in walking, told the magistrate. He maintained that he didn't dare to reveal police torture when he was produced before the magistrate five days ago as the police warned him of foisting more cases against him. The magistrate directed the Chanchalguda prison superintendent to submit the medical certificate of Nagaraju and furnish a report on his treatment on Friday.
