The Supreme Court on Friday suspended the Andhra Pradesh Police for “communicating” with a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) of the YSR Congress party, an accused in a 2022 murder, whose trial has not moved to the stage of framing charges for three years even as the politician is out on interim bail.
Striking a balance between fair trial and personal liberty, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said, “This is a clear case of nexus between power and police,” as it observed the “laxity” and “complicity” of the state police in concluding the trial in a case over the last four years.
In a scathing criticism of the handling of the case, the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalia Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, said, “The police were in dialogue with the accused to grant him virtual bail on a golden platter… There is a clear case of nexus between the authority and the police.” Default bail is granted to an accused under Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure when the police fails to complete the investigation within the stipulated period of 90 days in case of commission of a heinous crime.
The court was hearing the appeal filed by MLC Anantha Satya Udaya Bhaskara Rao alias Anantha Babu who is accused of killing his former driver Veedhi Subrahmanyam in May 2022 over alleged non-payment of loan. In December 2022, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail after the Andhra Pradesh High Court refused to grant default bail.
With the victim’s family claiming that even charges have not been filed in the case, the court directed the police to complete any further investigation by March 31 and asked the Andhra Pradesh HC Chief Justice to refer the case to a senior judicial officer who may frame charges by April 18 and complete the trial by November 30 this year.
The MLC faces charges of murder, causing disappearance of evidence among other offenses under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides separate provisions under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The bench said: “He (the MLC) has been enjoying the benefits of interim bail for the last three years. Now the police have filed a supplementary charge sheet. This once again shows the police’s laxity, if not complicity, with the accused showing gross negligence in a heinous crime.”
The state, represented by senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, informed the court that after the regime change in the state in 2024, a reinvestigation was conducted at the request of the police and a supplementary chargesheet was filed. Luthra said this decision was taken after noting several loopholes in the investigation conducted by the police earlier when the YSR Congress Party was in power in the state.
The court commented: “What action did you take? Was any show cause notice issued? Did you take any disciplinary action?” As Luthra said the same was not done, the bench observed: “What power does the Director General of Police have to continue if he cannot control the Superintendent of Police or the investigating officer.”
Striking a balance between MLC’s personal freedom and fair trial, the court did not interfere with the bail order but said: “The continuation of bail depends on his conduct while awaiting proceedings. If he is found to have tampered with evidence or influenced witnesses, consequences will follow.”
The court asked the SC not to issue any order halting the trial requiring any aggrieved party to approach the Supreme Court directly. It further requested that the judicial officer hearing the case be largely relieved of other matters to ensure that the matter is heard at least once a week.
