Custodial deaths, which were a thing of the past even in combined Andhra Pradesh, have surfaced with alarming succession in Telangana in the last few days.
Close on the heels of the death of a youth at Nizamabad One Town police station, a purported thief Marnindi Chakradhar Rao (57) who was detained for interrogation on court orders died under similar circumstances in Miryalguda One Town police station at 11 p.m. on Saturday. He was said to be an inter-State burglar and arrested by the Miryalguda police on March 22.
Strangely, both incidents occurred in urban centres of Telangana where the government is taking extra precautions in maintenance of law and order.
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The police produced Chakradhar Rao in court, which remanded him to judicial custody at the sub-jail in Mirayalguda.
Since he was reportedly involved in over 80 theft cases and most of them were in Nalgonda district, the police petitioned the court seeking his custody for further interrogation. After he was handed over to police on Saturday morning, he is said to have been interrogated till late in the evening. The One Town Inspector D. Bikshapathi said Chakradhar Rao complained of chest pain at 10 p.m. on Saturday when he was shifted to the Area Hospital in the town. Dr. Sudhir Kumar, who attended on Rao, declared him dead on reaching the hospital.
The accused complained of chest pain and was declared dead as soon as he was taken to hospital