The Andhra Pradesh High Court passed an interim order on Monday granting protection to senior Bihar cadre IPS officer Sunil Nayak (IPS:2005:BH) by directing the Andhra Police not to initiate any coercive action against him while directing Nayak to appear before the investigating officer on or before March 5 and join the investigation on a daily basis from 10am to 5pm.

Nayak is currently posted as IG of the Fire Services Department in Bihar, and the case relates to the alleged custodial torture of former MP and current Deputy Andhra Assembly Speaker K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju. The incident took place in 2021 when Nayak, on deputation to Andhra Pradesh, was serving as DIG in the Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the Andhra Police.

Ramakrishna Raju had lodged the complaint naming Nayak as one of the accused, alleging that Nayak was involved in his custodial torture after being arrested by the Crime Investigation Department (CID).

A single-judge bench of Justice Venkata Jyothirmayee Prathapa issued the order while hearing an anticipatory bail petition filed by the IPS officer. The court directed the police to take up the inquiry within the framework of the law and instructed the IPS officer to cooperate in the inquiry.

The High Court has posted the matter for further hearing on March 9.

It needs to be recalled here that Andhra Pradesh police had recently arrested Nayak in Patna, but he had to be let off by the Andhra Police after being denied the requisite transit remand by the jurisdictional magistrate there.