TIRUPATHI/TIRUMALA: The Chandragiri police have reportedly registered a case against the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) personnel who participated in the alleged encounter.
Based on a complaint filed by Muniyammal, the widow of Sashi Kumar who died in the encounter, the police registered a case against the RSASFT personnel under section 302 of IPC on Tuesday, it is learnt.
Muniyammal alleged that the police captured the coolies and tortured them before gunning them down. Terming the act of the RSASTF as a well-planned and organised crime, which amounted to culpable homicide, she wanted the Chandragiri police to register a case under section 302 of IPC against the police personnel who picked up the coolies from the bus and also against the STF men who killed them in two locations in the Seshachalam forest near Srivari Mettu. Accordingly, a case has been registered against the STF personnel but the Chandragiri police remained tight-lipped on it on the ground that the matter is sub-judice.
TTD Orders Probe
The higher authorities of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) are learnt to have ordered a probe into the recent encounter killings in the Seshachalam Reserve Forest area near the Srivari Mettu, the ancient gateway to the trekking route to the sacred hills of Tirumala.
Highly placed sources revealed that after two persons, who claimed to be the witnesses to the incident, told the NHRC that it was a fake encounter and sought action against the police personnel involved in the incident, the TTD asked its security officials to give a detailed report as soon as possible.
The encounter spot, in which 20 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were killed, is just a kilometre away from the Srivari Mettu. The 6 km road from Srinivasa Mangapuram to Srivari Mettu is owned and maintained by the TTD.
The probe team will gather details on when the police personnel entered the area and why they had opted for this road leaving the Kalyani Dam road to enter the forest for combing operations. It will also find out whether TTD vehicles were being used by the personnel.