Congress says SIT failed to secure CCTV evidence in Sai Krishna custodial death case, seeks CBI probe

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AP Congress Committee vice-president Kolanukonda Shivaji. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT

The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Monday (September 21, 2026) alleged that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna had failed to gather vital evidence.

The investigating officers had deliberately shifted the scene of the alleged lock-up death from the Krishnalanka police station to a private building, though the incident had happened in the police station, APCC vice-president Kolanukonda Shivaji alleged in a statement.

Sai Krishna’s mother, G. Vijaya Lakshmi, had alleged that her son was illegally detained and that she had seen him in the police station crying in pain; the SIT, however, said accused No. 4, G. Suresh, had seen him in an abandoned building where he died, Mr. Shivaji said.

He asked why the investigating officers could not seize the CCTV footage of the Krishnalanka police station, and of the route to the Swargapuri crematorium, where Sai Krishna’s body was allegedly cremated.

He demanded that the government hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) immediately for a fair probe.

Sai Krishna, 25, went missing after the Krishnalanka police picked him up from Markapuram in May. His mother’s habeas corpus petition in the High Court brought the case to light; Circle Inspector S.S.V.V. Nagaraju was arrested on June 23 on charges of torturing him to death and disposing of the body, and the State government formed the SIT under Inspector General of Police M. Ravi Prakash. The SIT has since told a magistrate’s court that staff of the police station deleted its CCTV footage. Suresh, the fourth accused, surrendered before the SIT on Thursday (September 17, 2026) after months in hiding.

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