Andhra Pradesh High Court hands Gade Sai Krishna custodial death probe to CBI

A Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday (October 16, 2026) ordered that the investigation into the alleged custodial death of Gade Sai Krishna be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Till now, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the State government had been probing the suspected death of Sai Krishna during his custody in the Krishnalanka police station.

Sai Krishna was allegedly tortured by Circle Inspector S.S.V.V. Nagaraju and some other police personnel over his involvement in a crime committed in Markapuram, from where he was picked up in May 2026 on a non-bailable warrant.

Vijaya Lakshmi, mother of the deceased, approached a local court accusing the police of killing her son, claiming to have seen injury marks on his body when he was alive, during her visit to the police station.

The CCTV footage at the police station was reportedly missing amid doubts of foul play. In September, the Supreme Court took serious note of the incident. It questioned what prevented the police from producing Sai Krishna before a magistrate and registering the FIR soon after receiving the complaint

The case so far

Sai Krishna, 25, went missing after he was picked up by the Krishnalanka police of the NTR Police Commissionerate. A habeas corpus petition filed by his mother in the High Court on June 2 brought the case to light. Inspector Nagaraju was arrested on June 23 in a case of murder and illegal confinement, and the State government formed an SIT headed by Inspector General of Police M. Ravi Prakash. The SIT reportedly found that the police had tried to make it appear that Sai Krishna had escaped from custody and fled to Goa, and that attempts were made to tamper with CCTV footage. YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had demanded a CBI probe into the case.