Having to swallow the bitter pill you prescribed for others during your heyday is really a painful experience. If you have any doubt, just ask the suspended Andhra Pradesh IPS officer, PV Sunil Kumar. He is the prime accused in a custodial torture case and is facing interrogation.

Kumar now wants Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly Kanumuru Raghu Rama Krishna Raju to be stripped of his official positions. He made this demand through his post on X on Dec 17, saying it is necessary for a “free and fair” investigation into the 2021 custodial torture allegations against him. Kumar’s demand comes after an investigation was revived against him by the Chandrababu Naidu-led government.

Kumar tries to make it look simple by saying that as he was suspended so that a fair probe takes place, so by using the same yardstick, Raju too should be divested of power.  

The ongoing probe against Sunil Kumar is based on allegations of Raju, who was then a rebel YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) MP. Raju alleged that he was subjected to third-degree torture while in CID custody in May 2021. Raju later alleged that he was physically assaulted and even the medical aid was denied to him. Raju later approached the Supreme Court, which directed medical examinations and raised concerns over the handling of the case.

Following the apex court’s observations, multiple FIRs were filed based on his complaints, accusing CID officials of custodial violence. Thus, Sunil Kumar, who was the Additional Director General of Police (CID) at the time, was named as the prime accused in the case.

The story of controversy that began on 14 May, 2021, got a new lease of life after the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government came to power in the state in June 2024. The new government revived the probe. The table had turned as Raghu Rama Krishna Raju, who had switched allegiance to the TDP, became Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.

It boded disaster for Sunil Kumar, who was suspended on the basis of the torture allegations in March this year, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has since been interrogating him.