Vijayawada police condemn lockup death allegations in illegal liquor trade case

The death of a young man in police custody in Vijayawada has caused a stir. Going into details, on September 17, police arrested a gang supplying liquor illegally in an RTC cargo vehicle near Vijayawada Benz Circle. Police seized 28 cartons without LR numbers and identified the the phone numbers of persons to whom the illegal liquor were to be handed over. Some were questioned and detained in connection with the case. It is learned that this order was booked under the name of Gupta. The police have identified his number and detail based on call data.

In this backdrop, Ajay (25), a resident of Krishna Lanka Peddavari Street, was found to be smuggling liquor under a pseudonym. Sai Kiran, a resident of Mughal Rajpura, along with Ajay, the 11th accused in the case, were arrested on Thursday and brought to the office of the Special Enforcement Bureau in Krishna Lanka. Ajay had complained that he had chest pain when he was being taken to the Patamata Lanka excise police station at 4.30 pm. The police who were alarmed over Ajay's health condition took him to a private hospital where he was pronounced dead by hospital staff.

Meanwhile, there was an outrage that the accused was dead after police have beaten him hard. There was a campaign run by section of people alleging that it is a Lockup Death. However, Vijayawada Police Commissioner Battina Srinivasan responded to the incident and said Ajay died of chest pain while being taken to hospital and condemned that there is no such thing as lockup death.