An additional senior civil judge in Andhra Pradesh committed suicide on Wednesday, by hanging himself in the temple town of Tirupati.
The judge has been identified as 56-year-old PV Sadananda Murthy, a native of Machilipatnam in Krishna district, who was living with his wife and mother at Vidya Nagar in Tirupati.
According to reports, Murthy had been suspended by the Hyderabad High Court around six months ago, on charges of misusing his powers, and later transferred to a vacant reserve.
On Wednesday morning, Murthy told his wife that he was going for a bath, and did not return for a long time. When she went to check on him and found the bedroom door locked, she called neighbours who broke open the door, the Deccan Chronicle reported.
The judge was found hanging from the ceiling fan.
The Times of India reported that the MR Palle police rushed to the spot and sent the body to a local government hospital for a post-mortem examination, and registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC.
Stating that further investigation was on, Tirupati (West) DSP Kanakaraju told ToI that depression appeared to be the main reason behind the suicide, as his wife told the police that he had been depressed since his suspension.
Murthy however, is not the only judge who faced major allegations.
In May this year, over 60 members of the Rajya Sabha reportedly submitted a motion to seek the impeachment of Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy, of the combined High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
This was the second failed attempt by the MPs, who had moved a similar motion in December last year.
According to reports, a judge Rama Krishna recorded a dying declaration of a victim of a red sanders smuggling case, who went on record before his death, to state that he was set on fire by Pavan Kumar Reddy, Justice Nagarjuna’s brother.
Rama Krishna alleged that he was pressurised by Justice Nagarjuna to remove Pavan Kumar’s name, and was suspended when he refused.