Suspended Marredpally inspector K. Nageswara Rao, accused of rape, was taken into custody on Sunday, Rachakonda police reported.
Although several reports mentioned that the accused officer had surrendered before the Task Force earlier in the day, officials did not confirm or disclose related information. A late-evening brief release said the officer had been taken into custody by Vanasthalipuram police and L.B. Nagar Special Operations Team (SOT).
Sources, however, said Mr.Rao had surrendered before a senior officer of the SOT, assured full cooperation and also appealed for a fair investigation into the allegations.
The Rachakonda police was on an operation to nab Mr. Rao who was absconding after being booked for various violations. The Hyderabad City Police commissioner had placed him on suspension. Reportedly, the officer, before going into hiding, had told the investigators around Saturday midnight that he would surrender in the morning hours.
The police gathered available evidence, CCTV footage and obtained written statements from the aggrieved woman and her husband, who were allegedly threatened and later kidnapped in Mr. Rao’s vehicle. Medical tests of the complainant, too, were conducted at a hospital. Mr.Rao would be produced before a court on Monday.
Reacting to the news of the officer’s suspension from service, businessman and former Rajya Sabha member T.G. Venkatesh, who had been named accused in a land encroachment case by Mr. Rao in Banjara Hills police station in April, said the government must act tough to prevent such offences in future. “Such officers should be punished severely by sentencing them for life so that it becomes a lesson for other errant officers,” he said in a video release.
