Supreme Court Orders CBI to Take Over Probe Into Murder of Telangana Advocate Couple

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the CBI to take over the probe into the killing of the advocates Gattu Vaman Rao and his wife P.V. Nagamani in broad daylight on February 17, 2021, at Kalvacherla of Peddapalli’s Ramagiri mandal.

A division bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh issued the order, while hearing a plea filed by Gattu Kishan Rao, the father of Vaman Rao.

Kishan Rao had challenged a Telangana High Court order of June 4, 2021, which had disposed his plea seeking transfer of the investigation to the CBI on the ground that the investigation by the state police was unfair.

Speaking to this newspaper after the order, Kishan Rao told Deccan Chronicle: “I now believe I will get justice and the actual culprits will be held. Neither the previous BRS government nor the police did justice to my son.”

He noted: “The contract killers are out on bail. The real big names behind the murder have not been held accountable.”

Kishan Rao in his petition had alleged that there was a nexus between the local police and local BRS strongman Putta Madhukar, former MLA and Peddapalli zilla parishad chairman.

Following Kishan Rao’s appeal, the Supreme Court asked the government several times about the status of the investigation.

During the arguments, Kishan Rao submitted that the couple was pursuing matters related to the sand mafia and others to expose certain persons. They had also filed petitions before the High Court about the police abuse in Peddapalli and alleged that lock-up deaths had taken place.

Kishan Rao claimed that the investigation was not conducted properly despite the availability of a video in which one of the victims implicated another person, who was not made an accused.

Considering his pleas, the apex court had earlier directed the state government to verify the genuineness of the video and the recording. The state's affidavit in this regard stated that as per the forensic analysis, the video was genuine.

The court was of the view that the probe must be taken up by the CBI to find out the facts and directed the Central agency to file the final report, despite the state police having conducted the investigation.

“We are not expressing anything on merits. Suffice it to state that the matter requires due investigation. Whether further investigation or de novo investigation is something which the investigation agency is at liberty to decide. As the state government has already made the investigation, we are inclined to allow the CBI to take up the investigation and file a final report,” the court said.

The Telangana High Court, within 24 hours of the murder, had taken up an urgent suo motu petition based on a report by Deccan Chronicle and ordered the Peddapalli police to submit the status report. The police conducted the investigation and filed a charge before the trial court.

On the directions of the Telangana High Court, the police submitted the status report, fortnightly, to the court about the investigation.

In March 2021, Kishan Rao filed a petition in the High Court seeking a CBI probe. The High Court disposed of the petition, rejecting his plea by stating that the court was monitoring the probe by the police.