Rape accused Hyderabad inspector K Nageswara Rao dismissed from service

A Hyderabad police officer, who was booked for allegedly kidnapping, raping and threatening a woman at gunpoint, has been summarily dismissed from service. Inspector K Nageswara Rao was dismissed from service without an inquiry. “This is a case which reflects unbridled misuse of authority and power which the police department gave him and it is a severe criminal breach of trust on his part as he had been endowed with important assignments based on his performance to serve the public better,” the police said in a press release.  

In July, Nageshwar Rao was booked under various charges including rape and attempt to murder, based on a complaint from a woman whose husband was employed at Nageshwar Rao’s farmhouse. In the complaint, she alleged that Nageshwar Rao trespassed into the couple’s home in Vanasthalipuram on the night of July 7, beat the woman up and raped her. When the husband reached home and started to beat the inspector with a stick, Nageshwar then threatened the couple with a revolver and hit her husband on the head with the revolver, her complaint said. The woman also alleged that the inspector threatened them to leave Hyderabad and rounded them up in his vehicle. The three of them were travelling in the car, with the husband driving, when the car met with an accident near Ibrahimpatnam in the early hours of July 8. The couple managed to escape and approached the Vanasthalipuram police under the Rachakonda police commissionerate, where a complaint was filed on the same day. 

In K Nageswara Rao’s case, it is not reasonably practicable to conduct a regular departmental enquiry as per the provisions of the TSCS (CC&A) Rules, 1991 because there is every possibility that Nageswara Rao, Inspector of Police (under suspension) may intimidate and influence the victim and witnesses thereof during the regular course of departmental enquiry, the police noted. “He has a criminal bent of mind which is amply proved and he can go to any extent to threaten, influence and intimidate the victims and witnesses. Moreover, the regular department enquiry may take a long time during which there is likely to be interaction between him and the victims and witnesses which can be intimidating to them. Therefore, there will be no atmosphere to conduct free and fair enquiry,” the police said. 

Thus, it is reasonable to impose a major penalty of “Dismissal from Service” on the inspector to meet the ends of justice by invoking the provisions of Article 311 (2) (b) and (3) of the Constitution of India by which justice can also be extended to the victim and her family members, the release added.