Why was Sai Krishna never produced in court? Supreme Court asks Andhra police, seeks records in sealed cover
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Investigating officials at the Krishnalanka police station in Vijayawada during the probe into the alleged custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna. File | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Supreme Court has asked why Gade Sai Krishna, 25, was never produced before a court after the police in Vijayawada took him into custody in May, and said it will intervene, if necessary, once the Andhra Pradesh High Court disposes of the petitions pending before it on his alleged custodial death.
A three-judge Bench took serious note of the case while hearing a petition filed by Tirupati MP Maddila Gurumurthy on Wednesday (September 23, 2026). The death allegedly occurred at the Krishnalanka police station of the NTR Police Commissionerate in Vijayawada.
The Bench also asked about the disappearance of Sai Krishna, the delay in registering the FIR and the missing CCTV footage from the police station.
The Supreme Court directed the authorities concerned to place the case records from the High Court before it in a sealed cover by September 30, and posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks.
A native of Ranigari Thota, Sai Krishna was picked up by the Task Force and the Krishnalanka police in the early hours of May 6, 2026, because two non-bailable warrants were pending against him. He was handed over to the Krishnalanka police the same day.
Sai Krishnaβs mother, Vijaya Lakshmi, alleged that Krishnalanka Circle Inspector S.S.V.V. Nagaraju and his staff illegally detained her son instead of producing him in court, and tortured him severely in custody, causing his death.
She alleged that she had seen Sai Krishna in the police station screaming in pain and pleaded for his release, but the Circle Inspector abused her.
Ms. Vijaya Lakshmi filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court on June 2. The State government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on June 19, which arrested seven people, including Mr. Nagaraju. In July, Ms. Vijaya Lakshmi sought to withdraw her petition, but the High Court questioned contradictions in her plea; those proceedings are among the petitions still pending before it.
The SIT officers filed charge sheet in the court stating that Sai Krishna was allegedly tortured in custody, and the accused shifted him to a vacate building in Ranigari Thota, where he died.
According to the SIT, the Krishnalanka police then took the body, wrapped in a blanket, to the Swargapuri crematorium on a two-wheeler at midnight on May 12, and cremated it to destroy the evidence.
The case surfaced only when Ms. Vijaya Lakshmi went to the High Court, more than three weeks after her son was picked up, and the police could not produce him. The Opposition YSR Congress Party demanded a CBI inquiry, and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu met her and promised a fair investigation. The SIT found that the police had tried to make it appear that Sai Krishna had escaped to Goa, according to its findings reported earlier.
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