Suspended Hyderabad CI Nageshwar Rao’s case raises questions on abuse of office

Hyderabad: The case of the now-suspended Hyderabad police Inspector K Nageshwar Rao, who was suspended for allegedly raping, attempting to kill a woman after trespassing into her house at Vanasthalipuram and then kidnapping the victim and her husband, if proven true, would be the latest case of misuse of authority by the police officials.

The victim aged around 30 years in her complaint to the Vanasthalipuram police alleged in 2018 a case was registered against her husband, the Hyderabad Task Force police caught him and the case was investigated by Nageshwar Rao. After he was released on bail, Rao hired the man to work at his farm located at Adibatla at monthly pay of Rs. 10,000, after six months it was enhanced to 15,000 a month and he worked for a year and a half.

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The husband of the victim told media persons that he was ‘forced to work’ at the land by the Inspector, who was implicated in a ganja drug case.

“When the Inspector tried to misbehave with me at one point in time, I informed my husband who spoke to the Inspector and he apologised to him. Later one SI and constables came to my house in Vanasthalipuram and took my husband to the Task Force office. They took pictures and videos of her husband forcibly placing ganja sachets in his hands and threatened to register a false case if my husband tried to inform to Rao’s family members about his sexual advances,” the victim told the police.

The height of misuse of official facilities is the Inspector that was illegally tracking the mobile phone and finding out the location and movement of the victim’s husband whenever he wanted. After tracking details and confirming the gadget was somewhere around Yacharam in Ranga Reddy district, the Inspector went to the house of the woman at Vanasthalipuram on Thursday night where he had allegedly raped the woman. However, the husband of the woman had handed over his gadget to the children asking them to use it and came without the phone to his residence at Vanasthalipuram catching the Inspector by surprise. He then threatened the couple to kill in an encounter.

A senior police official said the option of tracking phones is available only to inspectors and officers who hold higher ranks and that too only after obtaining permission from the DCP rank officer. In Task Force and SOT teams, because important cases are investigated by the teams, the Inspector directly contacts the nodal officers of the mobile service provider and gets the details. “It is not for personal use at all. Department action will be initiated if caught in such cases,” said the official.

What is more surprising is the Inspector openly threatening the couple to leave Hyderabad, or else he would book a brothel case against them and later forcefully took them in his car to Ibrahimpatnam to send them away from the city. On the way, they met with an accident near Ibrahimpatnam Lake in the early hours of Friday and in the melee, the couple escaped from there and came back to the city.

During the past six months the Inspector was in the news for various reasons. In April’s first week, while working as Inspector Task Force North zone, he raided a pub at Raidisson Blu hotel in Banjara Hills where allegedly cocaine was reportedly found and seized the drug. The high-profile case was widely reported as children of a few affluent businessmen and Tollywood personalities were caught.

After the case, Nageshwar Rao got the Banjara Hills SHO posting – a much sought and powerful / rewarding post in Hyderabad city. In April third week the Inspector was in the news again when he booked a case against 69 people, including prime accused T. G. Vishwaprasad, son of the brother of T. G. Venkatesh, former state minister and Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha member from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, for an alleged attempt to grab a prime property adjacent to the Andhra Pradesh Gems and Jewellery Park, in upmarket Banjara Hills.

The property, measuring about half an acre, is estimated to be worth over Rs 100 crore. Allegations and counter-allegations were made against both the parties with T G Venkatesh levying allegations against the police for action in a prejudiced manner.

According to police, scores of people from Kurnool descended upon the land T. G. Venkatesh, the BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Kurnool in Rayalaseema, denied any involvement in the matter.

In a case, Nageshwar Rao while working as Inspector Task Force (North) team had detained a BMW car belonging to a businessman. Following the orders of the court, it was seized by the advocate officer appointed by the court and produced before the court.