Arrest cops involved in encounter: Victims’ kin

Palani had completed his B.Ed and had worked as a teacher in a few schools in the vicinity for three years. He had opted out of the teaching job due to poor pay and switched over to the profession of tailoring, which also did not give enough earnings to support his family. “He is only breadwinner in our family. We want the government to give us a job,” she demanded. She hails from Kalasamudaram in Tiruvannamalai district.

S. Muniyammaal, wife of deceased woodcutter A. Sasikumar, 35, who first approached the court seeking a re-postmortem, said she wants justice for her husband’s killing. She said she was able to identify the body of her husband only after seeing the photo and number marked to it. “Everyone is saying that re-postmortem report will reveal the truth behind her husband’s death. I am waiting for it,” she said.

PMK legal wing president K. Balu, who led the kin of those killed to Chandragiri police station in Andhra Pradesh, demanded a CBI probe into the incident. “Those involved in the incident include senior police and forest department officials. Hence, there has to be a CBI probe in the matter,” he said. Balu demanded that the Andhra Pradesh government pay a compensation of Rs 1 crore each to the victims’ families. Twenty people were gunned down in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district in a police operation, said to be against red sanders smugglers.