New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Police Monday arrested IPS officer M. Sunil Kumar Naik from Patna in connection with the 2021 alleged custodial torture and assault of then Lok Sabha MP and now AP Deputy Speaker K. Raghurama Krishna Raju. However, hours later, a Patna court ordered his release, junking the police’s transit remand plea.
An FIR was lodged in the case only in 2024, after Raju quit Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP and joined the then opposition TDP, which went on to win the assembly polls that year. Raju became the Deputy Speaker in the newly elected Naidu-led government.
The initial FIR of 11 July 2024 did not name Naik.
IPS Naik was serving as the Inspector General (IG) of Fire and Homeguards in Bihar at the time of his arrest. His lawyer Amit Srivastava told ThePrint, “Magistrate has written for his release from the custody. Grounds include no arrest warrant, no intimation to the competent court for transit remand about the arrest before carrying out the arrest along with failure of the officer to submit the case diary.”
A 2005-batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, Naik, was serving as the Andhra Pradesh Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department’s deputy inspector general and cyber crimes in-charge on an inter-state deputation in May 2021, when Raju, then MP from Narasapuram, was arrested for alleged comments promoting enmity between groups, purportedly after derogatory comments against then-CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Three years later, only months after the TDP’s win, Raju lodged a police complaint against ex-CM Jagan Reddy and the CID’s former additional director general of police P.V. Sunil Kumar and senior state police officer P.S.R. Anjaneyulu—who later became the intelligence unit’s additional director general of police—among other officers.
Based on his complaint, Guntur district police booked Reddy, Anjaneyulu, and Kumar in July 2024 under sections relating to public servants knowingly disobeying the law, common intention, and criminal conspiracy.
In his complaint to the police, Raju charged that Sunil Kumar and Anjaneyulu, along with other subordinate officers, arrived at the CB-CID regional office in Guntur and beat him with a rubber belt and lathis. They allegedly did not allow him to take medicines despite a history of heart ailments.
Andhra Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu suspended former CB-CID chief Kumar in March 2025 for allegedly making multiple foreign visits without prior government permission and deviating from approved travel plans. His suspension has since been confirmed by the Home Affairs Ministry and extended to June 2026, when he retires.
The state CID arrested Anjaneyulu in April 2025 in a separate case, relating to the wrongful confinement and harassment of a Mumbai-based actress.
Naik was arrested Monday, a month after a Guntur court rejected his anticipatory bail. In his arguments, Naik’s counsel, at the time, contended that his role was limited to conducting a preliminary inquiry complying with instructions from his superior officers.
The complaint
Based on Raju’s complaint, a police officer documented in the FIR, “Then certain police officers, i.e., Mr P.V. Sunil Kumar IPS, the then DG of CBCID, along with Mr Seetharam Anjaneyulu IPS and other police subordinates came into CBCID Office and beat him with rubber belt and lathis and even not allowed to take medicines in respect of his heart ailment, with the influence of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, the then Chief Minister of AP.”
“They—knowing pretty well that he has undergone a bypass surgery to the heart—persons sat on his chest applied pressure and thereby attempted to kill him; meanwhile, his phone was taken and beaten till he disclosed the password of such phone. Later, he was shifted to Govt General Hospital; the doctor Prabhavathi, who treated him, has issued false medical certificates at the instance of police officials,” the FIR further stated.
“Additionally, P.V. Sunil Kumar threatened him that he would be killed if he were to criticise the then Chief Minister, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Apart from the stated allegations, the complainant also noted so many serious, heinous nature allegations against several persons, which are required to be investigated by the appropriate police authority.”
Back in December 2019, the MHA approved Naik’s interstate deputation, citing his parents’ health issues as grounds for personal hardship. His tenure in Andhra Pradesh began in January 2020 and was initially approved for 3 years, until January 2023.
Later, in July 2022, he sought a two-year extension from the personnel and training department. But the department rejected it, allegedly around the same time that his name allegedly surfaced in connection with the case, investigators say. The Central Administrative Tribunal upheld the rejection and also directed him to return to his parent cadre in 2023, which he did.
Naik was summoned to appear before the investigating officer twice in February and March 2025.
The investigators have alleged in court that Naik, along with a CID officer of the additional superintendent of police-rank allowed miscreants into the CID office where Raju stayed on the night of 14 May 2021. There, Raju was allegedly beaten “indiscriminately” on his foot with a lathi and a rubber bat after they tied his legs and instigated the attack, in what has been called a “facilitated murder attempt”. Arguing against anticipatory bail to Naik, they cited “clinching evidence” against him.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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