Sannaboina Chinna Babu (23), a resident of Thotaveedhi, a Dalit colony, in the One Town area of Nandyal, died by suicide on June 20 (Tuesday).
In a selfie video he purportedly recorded prior to jumping before a running train, Chinna Babu alleged that he was forced to take the extreme step as the Nandyal One Town police had tortured him to confess that he lifted a bike, a crime that he did not commit.
Meanwhile, Nandyal Deputy Superintendent of Police C. Maheswara Reddy told The Hindu that the “allegation of Chinna Babu is absolutely wrong.”
Chinna Babu’s family members (mother and brother) had given a statement that the motive behind the suicide was love failure, Mr. Reddy said.
The incident took place at 10.30 a.m., at about 8 km from the Nandyal railway station, and that the GRP filed a case to that effect.
In the selfie video, the youth was heard saying (while brushing his teeth) that he had been tortured by two police constables Naganna (at the police station) and Yesudas (his neighbour), asking him to confess that he had stolen the bike.
“By the time you see this video, I will be dead. I was beaten the whole day at the station on Monday,” Chinna Babu alleged in the video.
Mr. Reddy said that Chinna Babu, a daily labourer, had fallen in love with a 16-year-old girl, a close relative, and wanted to marry her, but the family members reportedly advised him to wait for two more years as she was too young.
Chinna Babu was upset by the decision of the family elders, the DSP said.
Mr. Reddy said the police had received a complaint from a person from Bandiatmakur that he had lost his bike at the Srinivasa Centre in Nandyal, and that he saw a person riding it there two days later.
On verifying the CCTV footage, one of the constables identified Chinna Babu, as he was also from the same colony, the DSP added.
“Based on the footage, we interrogated him in front of his brother. He was taken home by his family, which promised to bring him back on Tuesday after finding out from him as to what he had done with the bike,” Mr. Reddy said.
