AP high court to decide on Sunil Naik’s anticipatory bail on March 12

Vijayawada: The high court on Monday directed inspector general of Police (IGP) Sunil Naik to appear before the investigation officer until March 12 in the alleged custodial torture of deputy speaker K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju. The court said that Sunil should cooperate with the investigation and, if the investigation officer required his presence, he should appear before him.Sunil, a Bihar cadre IPS officer, moved the high court for anticipatory bail after AP police made a futile attempt to arrest him. Sunil was let off by a local court in Patna, which rejected the transit remand to the AP police following his arrest.Arguing on behalf of the prosecution, senior counsel Siddharth Agarwal raised objections over the maintainability of the anticipatory bail petition. He said that Sunil was already arrested by the police in Patna. The police explained the grounds of arrest to him, informed his family members, and he signed the papers. However, the local court rejected the transit remand, considering the undertaking given by Sunil that he would approach the courts in AP to avail his legal remedy.As the process of arresting Sunil was complete, only a regular bail petition could be filed, as the anticipatory bail petition would become infructuous, he said. Arguing on behalf of Sunil, Ashwani Kumar said that, pursuant to the directions of the high court, Sunil appeared before the investigation officer. Considering the submissions on both sides, Justice Venkata Jyothirmayee Pratapa said that the matter would be taken up on March 12 to decide the maintainability of the petition.