Encounter or murder? Andhra Pradesh told to report on woodcutters’ killing

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday sought to know from the director general of police of AP whether a case of unnatural death had been reported regarding the encounter killing of the 20 woodcutters near Tirupati on Tuesday.

Read: Cops set to intensify operations

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was dealing with a petition moved by Chilaka Chandra Sekhar, general secretary of the Civil Liberties Commit-tee, seeking a direction to book a case under Section 302 of IPC (murder) against police personnel involved in the encounter and also to order a CBI probe.

Read: Man claims woodcutters were taken to forest, shot

The bench directed the DGP to file a report by Friday, explaining whether a case of unnatural death had been registered and also narrate the measures taken in conducting the postmortem of the bodies of victims and their preservation as per guidelines and names of the doctors who had conducted postmortem.

The bench also asked for measures initiated for identification of the victims by their kin.

Read: 12 woodcutters identified, CPI body demands probe

V. Raghunath, counsel appearing for the petitioner, submitted that 20 persons, all belonging to the “coolie” category, had been gunned down mercilessly at Seshachalam by the police who were justifying it by alleging that the deceased were smuggling red sanders.

He said the victims were from Tamil Nadu and so the cops were rushing through the postmortem to hush up evidence of illegal killing.

Read: Red sanders smugglers’ killings: TD says police had no choice

Additional A-G of AP Dammalpati Srinivas submitted that the post-mortem had been conducted as per law at the Ruia Hospital in Tirupati.

The bench adjourned the hearing to Friday.

Read: ‘Encounters part of colonial legacy’