By IANS,
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Monday ordered a probe into the death of a police constable under mysterious circumstances near Gwalior.
P. Muralinath, a constable of the armed reserve who was assigned as a driver to the chief of special anti-terror force Octopus, was found dead July 30 but the family was told about this only on Sunday.
The family of the 42-year-old has alleged that he was sent to Noida 10 days ago to work as an “orderly” at the house of Additional Director General of Police (Octopus) Vivek Dube.
The chief minister, who held a review meeting with Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy, has set up a three-member committee comprising the chief secretary, director general of police and home secretary to probe the incident. The committee has been asked to submit its report within a week.
The chief minister took a serious note of the incident. “How can a police constable from here be sent there (Noida) to work in his (police officer’s) house?” he asked the officials at the meeting.
He wanted to know why police constables were being used as orderlies at the residences of the police officers when the system was abolished long ago.
The state human rights commission asked the state government to conduct an inquiry and bear the expenses his last rites.
Family members of Muralinath claimed that he had complained of physical and mental harassment at Dube’s house. His body was buried at Gwalior after postmortem without informing his family in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Andhra Pradesh Police Constables Association said that nearly 2,300 constables were being used as orderlies by senior officials.