HYDERABAD: Advocate Lata Krishnamurthy appearing for the State of Telangana, before the judicial commission on Tuesday, argued that only some discrepancies in the procedures and inconsistencies in the statements of the police personnel involved in the exchange of the fire, leading to the death of the four accused in the rape and murder of veterinarian, can't discredit the entire investigation done by the police.
"Even persons with the highest level of integrity would contradict their statements, but such contradictions cannot ‘put in dark’ the credibility of the officers," she said.
She contended that 39 personnel were assigned for the safety of the accused from the time they were taken into custody. "The intention of the police was to recover articles, gather proper evidence, file a foolproof report in court and ensure the accused are convicted. (There was) no intention of extra-judicial excesses," she added.
She further stated that the police were prepared at all times to protect the accused from the angry mob, which is why an AK-47 and two SLRs were allotted.
Further, when pointed out that the accused had not mentioned that the victim's articles were hidden at Chatanpally and that the driver transporting the police party and the accused drove the bus to the spot without the accused giving any directions and only on the instructions of the ACP, Krishnamurthy stated that the accused, in their confession, mentioned all the nearby areas where the victim’s body was found, which clearly indicate that the accused led the police party to Chatanpally for recovery of articles.
'Fantastic story' irks commission chairman
Justice Sirpurkar said since the police already had the victim's articles in their possession, the statement fails to mention about the articles recovered and place of recovery. "Now we get a fantastic story that the accused walked for 500 m from her body to hide the articles," he added