HYDERABAD: V Surender, former ACP of Shadnagar, while deposing before the three-member judicial commission probing the death of four accused persons in an alleged encounter stated that the jail authorities don’t hand over accused persons, who are in judicial custody, without a magistrate’s order.
Surender admitted that he had requested adequate police personnel for escorting the accused during the police custody, but that he had not asked for long-range weapons. When asked why he did not mention it in his case diary, and instead, mentioned that sufficient armed force should be provided, he replied saying, “A request for armed force means force armed with long-range weapons.”
The court order giving the accused to police custody mentioned that he was present at the court when the petition was taken up for hearing, but he was not present at court at that time. When asked if the custody order wrongly mentioned his presence, he said, “I cannot speak about the order of the court, but I did not notice the court order mentioning my presence.”
He said the court constable of Shadnagar police station, Ravi, was present at the court during the hearing of the custody petition, but failed to show any reference to Ravi in the custody order. He also stated that he does not remember if he had asked the SHO about it and also did not ask Ravi as to what had transpired in the court. “I was not informed about what transpired before the judicial magistrate. I was only informed that the custody was sanctioned,” he added.
The commission asked Surender as to why he failed to mention the threats by the NHRC team forcing him to sign a statement, which they had prepared in their own words, even while filing an affidavit before the commission. The commission also questioned him on several inconsistencies in his statements submitted to them and his replies during the examination, to which he maintained, he does not remember and that he doesn’t know.