HYDERABAD: The CBI is all set to file the chargesheet in the ‘encounter’ of top Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and freelance journalist Hemachandra Pandey, on Monday. Azad and Pandey were killed in Sarkepalli forest area in Wankidi mandal in Adilabad district on the intervening night of July 1 and 2, 2010.
The CBI had taken up the probe following a directive from the SC in April last year. The apex court had directed the CBI to register cases against erring policemen and investigate the killings after Pandey’s widow Vineeta and social activist Swami Agnivesh filed a petition alleging that the duo were killed by the police.
After the CBI took over the probe, cases were registered against nearly 20 cops including some from Adilabad and the AR special party. The CBI team also visited Sarkepalli as part of their probe and even performed a ‘mock encounter’ in which those policemen, against whom cases were registered, also participated.
The CBI also spoke to several villagers, residing some 3 km away from the encounter site, while the accused policemen explained in detail how they asked Azad to surrender but were fired upon.