Published Jul 05, 2026 | 10:41 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 05, 2026 | 10:47 AM
Gade Vijayalakshmi speaking to the press outside the sub-collector's office in Vijayawada.
Synopsis: Gade Vijayalakshmi, the mother of Gade Sai Krishna, who allegedly died following torture in police custody, pleaded with investigators to hand over her son’s remains so she could perform his last rites. Vijayalakshmi alleged that her son was illegally detained, and now-suspended CI Nagaraju tortured him in custody, killed him, and destroyed the evidence.
Nearly two months after 25-year-old Gade Sai Krishna allegedly died following torture in police custody in the Vijayawada district of Andhra Pradesh, his mother, Gade Vijayalakshmi, pleaded with investigators to hand over her son’s remains so she could perform his last rites.
Vijayalakshmi and other family members deposed before Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Vennela Srinivas on Saturday, 4 July, after NTR District Collector G Lakshmisha ordered a magisterial inquiry.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, Vijayalakshmi warned that she would douse herself in petrol and die if the investigators refused to hand over the remains of her son.
“They are calling him a criminal. My son is not a bigger criminal than the ones who are still walking free. He was always honest,” she said.
She alleged that it was this honesty that made suspended Circle Inspector (CI) Nagaraju brutally kill her son. “They took him to the police station, laid him on the floor, pierced him with nails, and cruelly killed him,” she said.
The Krishnalanka and the Vijayawada Task Force police took Sai Krishna into custody at Markapuram on 6 May and took him to the Krishnalanka Police Station. He was handed over to the sentry at 7 am on the same day.
Vijayalakshmi alleged that her son was illegally detained, and now-suspended Circle Inspector (CI) Nagaraju tortured him in custody, killed him, and destroyed the evidence.
She filed a habeas corpus petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 2 June and filed a complaint with the police on 19 June. The SIT was formed on 21 June.
Also Read: SIT arrests two more police personnel in Gade Sai Krishna custodial death case
Vijayalakshmi questioned why the probe had been largely limited to Nagaraju and four constables already arrested. She insisted that a wider network of “big names” was behind the killing and that they all remained free. She demanded that investigators identify everyone who had threatened her at her home, interrogated her son, or taken part in his torture.
“They took my phone away. They arrested my son and beat him mercilessly. It was not just police from one station. You have to find the reason behind this. I am asking you because I am helpless. As a woman, what can I do? Where do I go? Who else should I ask for justice?” asked a teary-eyed Vijayalakshmi.
She also made a startling claim that a plot was underway to kill her and other family members in the same manner her son was allegedly killed. She denied rumours that she had accepted money and said she wants accountability, not compensation.
Vijayalakshmi rejected Nagaraju’s claims of innocence to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and accused him of running a large network of criminals. “He is not a police officer; he himself is a big criminal,” she alleged.
She recounted her monthslong pursuit for justice in the form of meetings with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, repeated appeals to the police commissioner, a habeas corpus petition in the high court, and the current magisterial enquiry, saying none of it had brought her either accountability or her son’s ashes.
Responding to Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s reference to the case against Sai Krishna for the alleged assault of a minor girl multiple times, Vijayalakshmi said that it was unfair to speak about her son that way.
She said the complainant in that case had herself stated on record that nothing had happened, and that the matter had already been closed with her son’s acquittal.
Vijayalakshmi said that Sai Krishna had genuinely admired Pawan Kalyan. She bemoaned that the wider Kapu community’s electoral support for him was a mistake and that they had been repaid with betrayal.
Alongside Sai Krishna’s family, members of the Opposition YSRCP also appeared for the hearing before the RDO. Former minister Ambati Rambabu submitted a representation calling for the arrest of the accused. They demanded swift justice for his family.
The Human Rights Forum (HRF) Andhra Pradesh objected to the hearing process ordered by the district collector, citing a May 2026 order of the Jharkhand High Court and the National Human Rights Commission guidelines.
G Rohith, secretary of HRF, said that only a judicial magistrate should examine a custodial death. HRF called for the administrative inquiry to be scrapped.
Also Read: What remand report in ‘deceased’ Gade Sai Krishna case says
On 2 July, the Second Additional Judicial Magistrate of First Class Court, Vijayawada, granted the SIT eight days’ custody to interrogate suspended CI Nagaraju.
The court passed the order after SIT Investigation Officer L Sudhakar argued that Nagaraju had been uncooperative. The SIT claimed that sustained questioning was needed to locate Sai Krishna’s body and to establish how CCTV footage from the police station was allegedly wiped.
Nagaraju, held as a remand prisoner at Rajamahendravaram Central Jail, maintained that he had already shared everything he knew and had raised concerns about his safety during questioning.
His lawyer asked for protective conditions, including the recording of the sessions and continued access to legal counsel.
Although the SIT had requested a 12-day custody, the magistrate granted only eight days, from 3 July to 10 July, with daily questioning between 10 am and 5 pm and compulsory audio-video recording throughout.
Two constables were also arrested on suspicion of erasing CCTV footage, bringing the number of arrests in this case to five. Four constables, Jangam Nani, Potarlanka Ashok, Kaitepalli Baburao, and Goriparthi Sambabai, were arrested earlier.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
