Telangana HC seeks response from ED on custodial torture of man

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Friday, October 30, sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate about the alleged custodial torture in the liquor transportation scam in Andhra Pradesh.

The High Court was hearing a petition filed by Mangalampalli Naga Sai Manikanta, who alleged that ED officials detained him for nearly 10 hours at their Hyderabad office on October 26.

Justice EV Venugopal asked the ED and police to file responses and adjourned the matter to November 27.

Manikanta told the court that he was summoned by the agency as a witness and not as an accused. The petitioner also said that he appeared before the ED voluntarily, yet he was asked questions that were not related to him.

Manikanta accused the ED of threatening him and assaulting him by twisting his fingers, pulling his ears and pushing him against a wall. According to a report by The Times of India, Manikanta alleged that after the ED officials abused him, businessman Vallu Sandeep, who has a land dispute with his family, entered the interrogation room later in the day and pressured him to accept that his family had received black money in a land transaction and to name former minister KV Nageswara Rao and his son K Sunil Kumar.

Sandeep allegedly threatened consequences for his family if Manikanta refused.

The petitioner alleged that he ultimately signed a statement prepared by the officials under physical force and fear without being allowed to read its contents.

He has since retracted the statement.

The petitioner sought an independent, court-monitored investigation, preservation of closed circuit television camera (CCTV) footage and records from the ED office, registration of a First Information Report (FIR) based on his complaint, and a direction restraining authorities from relying on the disputed statement.

Manikanta has also approached Saifabad Police seeking registration of an FIR against the ED officials concerned.

Representing the ED, counsel Zoheb Hossain opposed the petition, arguing that it was not maintainable. He argued that complaints against public servants must be pursued before the jurisdictional magistrate in accordance with the law.

Citing Supreme Court precedents, he urged the court to dismiss the petition at the threshold.

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