Drama in Patna as Andhra police arrive to arrest Bihar IG, denied transit remand by local court

The FIR in the case — filed in July 2024 based on Raju’s police complaint — invokes sections of the Indian Penal Code that deal with criminal conspiracy, attempted murder, grievous hurt, forgery and criminal intimidation, among others.

That FIR also names PV Sunil Kumar, then Director General of the Crime Branch-CID (CB-CID); IPS officer Seetharamanjaneyulu; R Vijaya Paul, then Additional Superintendent of Police, CB-CID; and others. The complaint also names the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

His lawyers, however, claimed that Naik’s name was not in the original complaint.

On Monday, rejecting the Andhra Pradesh Police’s remand application, the Patna court said they had “neither provided a case diary nor a warrant”.

“The Andhra Pradesh Police contacted Patna police today regarding case number CR 187/24… in which the transit remand was requested. The court rejected the transit remand. They did not provide the case diary nor any warrant, and additionally, the local police were not notified prior to the arrest. The arrest happened around 6 am, and procedural lapses led to the rejection of the transit remand by the court,” Patna City Superintendent of Police Bhanu Pratap Singh said.

The allegations against Naik relate to a period after he was sent on deputation to Andhra Pradesh on December 4, 2019, for three years on grounds of personal hardship. Raju, then a YSR Congress Party MP, was arrested on sedition charges on May 14, 2021, for an alleged hate speech against certain communities after he filed a plea before the CBI special court in Hyderabad seeking cancellation of bail granted to Jagan in an alleged disproportionate assets case.

Raju, now a leader of Andhra Pradesh’s ruling Telugu Desam Party, later alleged that he was tortured and denied medicine while in police custody. After the TDP-led NDA came to power in 2024, cases were registered in July against some police officials and the former chief minister in connection with the alleged incident.

On March 3 last year, the Andhra Pradesh Police issued a notice to Naik to appear and record his statement in the case relating to the alleged attempted murder of Raju. The notice was issued after investigators determined he was present at the CID office in Guntur when Raju was brought in.

In his complaint, Raju said he was arrested in a sedition case in 2021 but, instead of being produced before a local magistrate in Hyderabad, was allegedly taken to the CB-CID office in Guntur, where certain police officers — including senior CB-CID officials — “came into CB-CID Office and beat him with rubber belt and lathi and even not allowed to take medicines in respect of his heart ailment”, allegedly acting under the influence of the then chief minister.

Raju alleged that despite knowing he had just undergone heart bypass surgery, “some persons sat on his chest applied pressure and thereby attempted to kill him”, and that he was assaulted until he “revealed” the password to his phone and threatened with death if he continued to criticise the chief minister.

The complaint further alleges that he was subsequently shifted to the Government General Hospital, Guntur, where “the doctor who treated him has issued false medical certificates at the instance of police officials”.

Meanwhile, Naik’s legal representatives — senior advocate Amit Srivastava and advocate Kunal Tiwari — claimed Naik was never named in the original FIR lodged by the Andhra Pradesh Police. The team is considering a petition to quash the FIR before the Andhra Pradesh High Court at the earliest.

“An FIR was registered on 11 July 2024 in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, in relation to an incident that allegedly took place on 14 May 2021. At that time, Mr Sunil Naik was not named as an accused,” Srivastava said. He added that the FIR was filed nearly three years after the alleged incident and that Naik’s name did not figure in it initially.

His legal team claimed that his name surfaced only during the course of the investigation, which they alleged was “indicative of mala fide intent”.

“The alleged 2021 incident pertained to accusations of torture involving a Member of Parliament who was then associated with the YSR Reddy government. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had rejected the MP’s bail plea, following which he approached the Supreme Court by filing a Special Leave Petition (SLP). Even in the petition filed before the Supreme Court, not a single word was mentioned against Mr Sunil Naik,” Srivastava said, adding that on May 21, 2025, the Supreme Court granted bail to the MP and that “at no stage during those proceedings was Naik implicated”.

Raju, who won the Narsapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2019 on a YSRCP ticket, later turned rebel and began criticising then chief minister Reddy, especially over converting Telugu-medium schools into English medium. Now in the ruling TDP, he has filed petitions in a CBI court in Hyderabad seeking cancellation of bail granted to Jagan in the alleged illegal assets case.

He was taken into custody by CID officials in May 2021 after they issued a notice under IPC sections for sedition, promoting enmity between groups and public mischief. He was later granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Former CID Additional SP R Vijaya Paul and Medical Superintendent of Guntur General Hospital Dr N Prabhavati are also named in the case. Prakasam district SP A R Damodar, who is investigating the case, issued a notice to Naik after determining he was present at the CID office in Guntur when Raju was brought in. Naik has been asked to present himself at the SP’s office “at the earliest” to record his statement.