Chittoor killings: Hyderabad High Court orders fresh post-mortem of 5 victims

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Friday ordered fresh autopsies for another five victims of the police firing in Seshachalam forests of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh state on April 7.

On Thursday, it had ordered fresh post-mortem of victim Sasi Kumar, a Tamil Nadu-based labourer, upon his wife's application.

The division bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar passed the direction today after relatives of five more victims (out of the 20 people who were killed) moved the court seeking fresh autopsies.

Read: Chittoor killings: Hyderabad High Court orders 2nd autopsy on woodcutter

The "re-post-mortem" was sought with the accusation that the firing incident was a "brutual and planned murder" by the Special Task Force (STF) of Andhra Pradesh Police.

Yesterday, the high court had directed the Andhra Pradesh government to conduct fresh autopsy on the body of Sasi Kumar in response to the application filed by his wife Muniyammal.

Her counsel had sought fresh autopsies for five others too, but the court declined to pass order, as the relatives concerned had not approached the court.

Muniyammal's lawyer, advocate K Balu, today filed similar applications on behalf of the kin of five deceased -- wives of four victims and another's mother.

Read: Probe by SIT sought into Chittoor encounter deaths in AP

The high court also ordered teams of medical experts from either Osmania Hospital or Gandhi Hospital (both state-run institutions here) to fly to Chennai to conduct the re-postmortem of the five bodies.

All the six bodies, including that of Sasi Kumar, are being kept at a government hospital in Thiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu.

The judges also directed the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu to ensure safety of the medical teams. Their reports should be submitted in a sealed cover to the court on Monday, they said.