Cops nailed for framing widow in murder case

Hyderabad: Cowering in a corner of her house, BS Nalini was menaced by 10 policemen, including three women personnel, in the dead of night back in May 2008. The terrified 55-year-old woman was speechless.

One of the policemen slapped Nalini and she went sprawling on the floor. A woman inspector pulled her up by her hair, and another twisted and yanked her left index finger until it cracked.

As Nalini writhed in pain, a policeman hit her on the head and crushed her feet under his boots. Then a policeman brought in cutting pliers and electric wiring to intimidate her further. They wanted her to confess to the murder of her husband.

Nalini's husband, 60-year-old B Ravindranath, a retired ADE with APSEB, was found stabbed to death in his house at Durga Nagar Colony in Chittoor on May 17, 2008.

Claiming to have cracked the case in a jiffy in the days following the murder, the Chittoor police called a press conference to announce their triumph. The story they put out was this: Nalini had had an illicit affair with an auto-rickshaw driver half her age and got her husband killed to continue the relationship. She was listed as accused no. 3 in the case.

Taking a cue from the police, TV channels and newspapers put out sensational stories about the crime.

Three years later, an internal probe into that investigation by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) has blown the lid off the deeds of the Chittoor police.

It cleared Nalini of any wrongdoing and recommended to the state government action against two inspectors, two sub-inspectors, including a woman, and several constables for their 'inhuman treatment'' of Nalini and trying to establish a case of illicit intimacy when in actuality it was a case of murder for gain.

Among those indicted by the CID report are the then inspector of Chittoor Urban police station V Allabaksh, inspector Ravi Manoharachari, sub-inspector Rajasekhar, woman SI Jayamma and several other male and female constables.

According to the CID report, Allabaksh failed to record Nalini's statement though she was thoroughly interrogated in her house that night.

The inspector, the report says, failed to ascertain the fact that property was stolen in the case though Nalini had pointed out in writing the theft of some gold jewellery and a cell phone.

Allabaksh did not mention the loss of property in the case diary till the arrest of accused no. 1 and 2 Abdul Rafi and Shaik Akbar Basha, both autodrivers, who allegedly stabbed the elderly victim and walked out with some valuables. They were later released on bail.

"The inspector started interrogating Nalini with a prejudiced mind and tried to make a case of murder with illicit intimacy as the motive but not a case of murder for gain,'' says the CID report.

However, there was not an iota of evidence, including any call records, to indicate that Nalini had anything to do with the autodriver.

The CID found that the though the offence took place between 5 pm and 7 pm, the FIR was registered only at 9 pm. Its report goes on to say that the the then DSP SA Rajack damaged Nalini's reputation by briefing the media about her "illicit intimacy''.

Due to the indiscriminate beating by policemen, Nalini suffered a fracture of her left index finger and other injuries. The medical reports established these injuries. The police also pressurized her using abusive language.

Interestingly, the policemen did not gather any details about the movements of accused no. 1 Abdul Rafi in Durga Nagar Colony. No witness was examined who could have thrown some light on the character of Nalini.

They did deploy a dog squad to get clues. The sniffer dog moved inside the house, the scene of offence, and around Nalini. This formed the basis of Nalini's interrogation.

The CID report notes that it is quite natural for sniffer dogs to cricle the inmates of a house in which a homicide has taken place.