HYDERABAD: The police party which escorted the accused in the rape and murder case of a veterinarian at Shadnagar in 2019, had fired at least ten times in the air and then started counter firing to divert attention of the accused, panch witness Rajashekar, told the counsel for the Commission.
He also stated that he “had little bit of fear” when he was asked to “check the status of the accused after the firing incident” and that he had lied down on the ground at the time of firing.He also stated that he saw one of the accused snatching a weapon from a Circle Inspector (CI) but he does know who snatched it from the Sub-Inspector (SI).
Both the officials were in the police party, who accompanied the accused to the place of the incident for recovering the articles belonging to the veterinarian, which were hidden by the accused after killing and burning her body.
However, when the counsel reminded him that he had stated the name of one of the accused in his statement before the magistrate, he said it was correct. When asked who told him the name of the accused who had snatched the weapon from the SI, he said that nobody told him, but he saw a weapon in his hand and said accordingly.
When asked how he knew the weapon belonged to the SI, he said that he had seen the weapon being snatched from the SI, but at the time of the incident, he did not know who had snatched the weapon. He added that the Circle Inspector’s weapon was snatched first.
When the counsel for the Commission asked Rajashekar, “You stated before NHRC when the first accused was running, he was not carrying a weapon, stone, stick in his hands”, he replied that the statement is not correct and added that the accused had a weapon in his hands.
‘Didn’t know if police tried to capture the accused’
Panch witness Rajashekar told the counsel for the Commission that he did not know if any of the police personnel tried to capture the accused and also if any of them had chased the accused