Amaravati, Feb 14 (IANS): The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday dismissed the bail petition of K. Tulasi Babu, an accused in the custodial torture case of former MP and current Assembly Deputy Speaker K. Raghu Rama Krishna Raju.

The High Court, which had reserved its order on the bail petition on February 11, pronounced the same on Friday.

Raju, then an MP, was arrested and allegedly tortured in police custody in 2021 when the YSR Congress Party was in power.

After the TDP-led coalition came to power, a case was registered against former Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and others on a complaint by Raju.

Tulasi Babu, a leader of the YSR Congress Party, was arrested on January 7 and was questioned multiple times. He was also interrogated along with retired CID Additional SP K. Vijay Paul, another accused in the case.

In an identification parade conducted by the police in the presence of the Guntur District Judge last month, Raju identified Tulasi Babu among five suspects.

During the hearing on Tulasi Babu’s bail petition, the prosecution told the court that CID officers and constables on duty testified that four masked individuals entered the CID office and attacked Raju, with one of them sitting on his chest.

Police suspect Tusli Babu’s direct involvement in the attack, along with three other unidentified individuals.

The court was also told that Tulsi Babu was not a lawyer when he was appointed as CID legal assistant.

In July 2024, police had registered an FIR against Jagan Mohan Reddy, two Indian Police Service (IPS) officers and others on a complaint by Raju, who alleged that there was an attempt on his life during police custody.

Police registered the FIR against then CID chief P. V. Sunil Kumar, then Intelligence Chief Seetharamanjaneyulu, then Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, then Additional SP R. Vijaya Paul, then Superintendent of Government General Hospital Guntur, Dr Prabhavati and others.

Raghu Rama Krishna Raju was elected to Lok Sabha on a YSR Congress Party ticket from Narsapuram in 2019 but he later became a rebel.

He was arrested on May 14, 2021, from his residence in Hyderabad for speaking against the government and allegedly instigating communal unrest in the state.

Raju said though he was recuperating after cardiac surgery, he was neither medically examined nor produced before a court in Hyderabad. He alleged that he was bullied, physically pulled inside a police vehicle and forcibly taken to Guntur the same night.

He alleged that he was kept in the CB CID office and there was an attempt on his life during the police custody. He alleged that Sunil Kumar, Seetharamanjeyulu and others beat him with a rubber belt and lathi and did not allow him to take medicines.

The complainant said despite knowing pretty well that he had undergone bypass surgery, some persons sat on his chest and applied pressure, thereby attempting to kill him.