Hyderabad: Cops took all care to avoid falling into legal quagmire
In earlier cases of encounters, police faced legal consequences.
Hyderabad: Top cops meticulously planned the encounter with Disha’s killers so that they would not face any legal difficulty keeping in view of the past experience of encounter cases wherein they faced the wrath of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the courts.
Though the trial court granted an order to take four accused ten days’ police custody on December 2, the investigators took them into custody on December 4.
Sources close to the investigation revealed that after taking them into custody the accused were taken to a secret place (possibly the Telangana Police Academy) and questioned them on Disha’s missing mobile phone and to secure clinching evidence.
When the investigators were busy questioning the accused, senior cops including Cyberabad police commissioner V. C. Sajjanar and intelligence officials had a prolonged brainstorming in the backdrop of mounting pressure from across the country on the state government and police for instant justice for Disha.
The embarrassing situation faced by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao during his visit to Delhi to attend a marriage, when the media targeted him on Disha’s rape and murder, appears to have forced the police bosses to take this case to its logical conclusion.
In earlier cases of encounters, police faced legal consequences. The NHRC had chided the police about the encounter of terror suspects Viqaruddin and others at Alair in Nalgonda.
The apex court, upholding the erstwhile AP High Court’s judgment of booking a murder case against cops who take part in encounters and probing their actions, put the burden on the police to prove that they opened fire in self-defence.
The verdict also forced the police bosses to take all precautions.
Sources disclosed that after two days’ brainstorming senior cops concluded that instant justice had to be delivered while the accused were in custody. They also had to ensure that the accused were taken to the crime-scene for the reconstruction of events without handcuffs.
Sources disclosed that top cops also took care of to show that the encounter was in self-defence and also that the accused was in a mood to retaliate against the police and attempt to escape.
Accordingly, the team under Mr Sajjanar took the accused for the reconstruction of the scene and eliminated Disha’s killers at an isolated place at Chattanpally, close to the spot where the killers burnt Disha.