RAYAPUDI (GUNTUR):Condemning the killing of 20 wood cutters in Seshachalam forest and five undertrial ‘minority’ youth on the Hyderabad-Warangal highway by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana police respectively, a couple of days ago, environmental and social activist Medha Patkar has termed the encounters ‘fake’ and against the law of land.
Speaking to mediamen at Rayapudi during her visit to villages in the capital region of Andhra Pradesh Thursday, Medha Patkar said that such killings by the state only made her furious. She also took exception of the AP government and chief minister N Chandrababu for justifying the police in killing the wood fellers.
Mincing no words, retired IAS officer MG Devasahayam described the encounters as ‘premeditated murder in cold blood’ and a ‘warning’ to those who were not falling in line with the state’s plans for the new capital. “Further, it also looks like an action to ‘cover up’ the real red sander smugglers,” he felt, while claiming that mafia was influencing the governance in the state.