2019 Hyderabad encounter: 'Only some video footage of incident produced before us,' says SC panel
The three-member Inquiry Commission observed that apart from the aforesaid lapses, there seems to have been a deliberate attempt to suppress the truth from emerging.
Published: 21st May 2022 06:39 PM | Last Updated: 22nd May 2022 08:09 AM | A+A A-
Police personnel at the 2019 Hyderabad encounter scene | (Photo | EPS)
HYDERABAD : A day after it tore into the version of the Hyderabad police in the encounter killing of four rape suspects, the Supreme Court-appointed Commission which inquires into the case said only some of the video footage of the incident were produced and that there was an unexplained delay in sending the FIR (of the incident) to court.
ALSO READ| Hyderabad gang rape: Kin of suspects killed in fake encounter seek action on cops
The four suspects were accused of raping and murdering a veterinarian here in December 2019 following which they were shot and killed by the police.
The three-member Inquiry Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice V S Sirpurkar, in its report submitted to the apex court, had revealed that the firing by the police personnel was deliberate and three of the deceased were juveniles.
The four suspects -- Mohammed Arif, Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, Jolu Shiva and Jollu Naveen -- were arrested on November 29, 2019 in connection with the gang-rape and murder of the woman veterinarian on November 27.
The four men were killed in an alleged encounter, (while in police custody), with the police on December 6, 2019 at Chattanpally near here -- the same highway-- where the charred body of the 25-year-old veterinarian was found.
ALSO READ| Fake encounter: Mixed reactions from Advocate fraternity
The Cyberabad police had said its personnel resorted to "retaliatory" firing after two of the accused opened fire at the police after snatching their weapons.
The Commission in its report stated the entire version of the police party beginning from the safe house to the incident at Chatanpally is concocted, and opined that it was impossible for the deceased suspects to have snatched the weapons of the police and they could not have operated firearms.
Therefore, the version is unbelievable, it said.
