Serbian police chief Marko Kricak has been arrested on suspicion of abuse of office and torture, along with another senior police official, just one week after the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) lost the parliamentary election.

Axar.az reports, citing Serbian media, that Kricak, head of the Criminal Police Directorate, and Bosko Sekulovic, head of the Criminal Suppression Service, were detained in Belgrade and placed in police custody for up to 48 hours.

According to Chief Public Prosecutor Nenad Stefanovic, the two officials are suspected of abusing their positions and failing to perform their official duties during an investigation into the May 12 murder of Aleksandar Nesovic at a restaurant in Belgrade's Senjak district. Prosecutors allege that their actions harmed the rights of former Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić.

Kricak faces additional allegations of abusing and torturing a man identified by the initials N.L. at police premises on May 16. Sekulovic is suspected of abuse of office.

The arrest comes amid a political transition following the October 25 parliamentary election, in which the student-backed opposition list defeated the SNS. Prosecutors have said the arrests are not connected to the election results and that the investigation began in May.