APHC010257462025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH Bench Sr.No:-

AT AMARAVATI [3446]

WRIT APPEAL NO: 598 of 2025 B. Narendra Kumar ...Appellant Vs.

Union of India and others ...Respondents **********

Advocate for Appellant: Mr. K. S. Murthy, appearing vice Mr. M. R. K. Chakravarthy Advocates for Respondents: The Advocate General, Mr. P. S. P.

Suresh Kumar, Spl. Public Prosecutor for CBI, GP for Home, Mr. Abdus Saleem CORAM : T HE CHIEF JUSTICE DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR SRI JUSTICE R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO DATE : 18^th December, 2025.

PER DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR, CJ:

The present Writ Appeal has been preferred against judgment and order, dated 05.05.2025, passed in W.P.No.27032 of 2024, whereby the Writ Petition filed by the petitioner was dismissed.

2. The Writ Petition was filed by the petitioner with a view to seek a Mandamus for entrusting the investigation in F.I.R. No.103 of 2024, dated 30.05.2024, registered with I Town Police Station, Dharmavaram, Sri Satya Sai District to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The F.I.R. in question was registered for offences under Sections 302, 201, 120-B, read with Section 149 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and Section 3(2)(V) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities), Act, 1989.

3. The case of the petitioner was that he had been falsely implicated in the said crime in regard to the alleged murder of Birru Sampath Kumar.

4. The deceased Sampath Kumar was arraigned as accused No.4 in Crime No.88 of 2024, dated 11.04.2024, registered with I Town Police Station, Hindupur, for offences under Sections 448, 323, 354, 506, read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. It is stated that Sampath Kumar was arrested on 28.05.2024 and produced before the Magistrate on the same day i.e. 28.05.2024, by the police, with a request for remanding the accused to judicial custody.

5. The learned Magistrate held that the police authorities had failed to issue a notice under Section 41-A Cr.P.C., which was also violative of the Guidelines of the Apex Court’s judgment, rendered in the case of Arnesh Kumar vs. State of Bihar, (2014) 8 SCC 273. A memo was also issued to the Station House Officer calling for his explanation.

The remand of the deceased Sampath Kumar was rejected and he was released on bail with self bond and on execution of solvent securities worth Rs.10,000/- with two sureties for like sum each.

6. The case of the petitioner was that the deceased Sampath Kumar was unable to produce the solvent securities, with a result that the police authorities kept him in their custody and was produced yet again before the Magistrate on 29.05.2024 at 6:50 PM.

A memo is stated to have been filed by Sampath Kumar requesting time for complying with the bail conditions.

The petitioners’ case further was that the learned Magistrate by virtue of the order, dated 29.05.2024, extended time, for a further period of two days.

It is thus stated that even on 29.05.2024, Sampath Kumar was in the custody of police at Hindupur and subsequently, it is stated that his body was discovered in the morning of 30.05.2024 and as per the narrative of the police authorities, he was murdered on 29.05.2024.

The case of the petitioner was that an investigation by CBI was necessary in the instant case, as the death of Sampath Kumar had occurred while he was still in police custody and that the petitioner was being falsely implicated in the case so registered.

The motive behind the killing of the deceased, Sampath Kumar, while in police custody is attributed to the fact that the police authorities were enraged by certain social media posts made by the deceased against police officers and their women folk.

7. The learned Single Judge called for the relevant record, including Case Diary and General Diary, maintained at Hindupur I Town Police Station from 10.05.2024 to 30.05.2024.

With a view to clear the air on whether the deceased was in police custody as on 29.05.2024 or out on Bail, the learned Single Judge referred to the statement