The woman, Kona Krishnakumari (30), was found hanging by her saree in the station lock-up last morning. She was reportedly brought to the station for interrogation on Wednesday evening on a complaint that a 19-year-old-girl was missing from April 19 last.

Expressing his shock and grief over the incident, Dora said that despite clear-cut instructions that no woman should be kept in a lock-up during the night, she was detained there. He directed Eluru Range DIG, Chandrashekhara Reddy to suspend the police personnel responsible for the incident. Cases had also been booked against them.

The case was handed over to the CB-CID for further investigation, he added.

Meanwhile, several Congress leaders today alleged that Krishnakumari had died due to use of third degree methods by the police and demanded a judicial probeby a sitting High Court judge into the incident.

They also demanded immediate suspension of the local DCP, who is also the commissioner in charge of Vijayawada city.

In a statement here, the APCC vice-president D Srinivas and seven other leaders said that the police had violated all laws and confined the woman for two days, without handing her over to the mahila police station or producing her before a court. They said they had come to the conclusion that the police of Payakapuram police station was responsible for the death of an innocent woman.