The Rachakonda police suspended a sub-inspector on Wednesday, for 'dereliction of duty and coercion' in the alleged honour killing case of Amboji Naresh in Telangana.
This comes days after an audio clip surfaced, where the police officer was allegedly heard asking Naresh's wife, Swathi, to return from Mumbai.
Naresh (23), a Dalit and Tummala Swathi (20), a woman from an upper caste, had eloped in March this year and got married in Mumbai.
The couple had returned to Telangana on May 2, and Naresh had been missing since then. Swathi allegedly committed suicide in her maternal home in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district on May 16, days before she was due to appear in court.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat, who suspended sub-inspector Shivanaga Prasad, told the media, “SI Prasad called up Swati several times and asked her to return home in a threatening manner after her father T Srinivas Reddy lodged a missing complaint”.
After Naresh's father moved the High Court, police began an investigation and found remains of Naresh's charred body from Swathi's father's agricultural field.
Police said Naresh was killed by his father-in-law, Srinivas Reddy, who was unhappy with his daughter marrying a youth from another caste.
In the clip that surfaced, Swathi is heard asking, "What is the problem if I stay here (Mumbai)?"
The police officer replies saying that since a missing complaint was filed by her parents, they had to establish if Swathi was alive or dead.
"I am alive, that's why I'm speaking on the phone right?" Swathi says, to which the police officer replies, "You could be held under knife point. We don't know that right? If you come here, we can prove that you are alright and went to Mumbai with your consent."
"Don't be afraid. I'm there with you," the police officer says, following which Swathi seeks assurance that the case would be dropped once she visits the police station.
"100 percent," comes the reply.
However, it was reported that after the couple came back to the village, the local police allowed Swathi's father to take her home, and sent Naresh back.
Naresh's parents have demanded a thorough enquiry and action against the police officers allegedly involved in the case.