HYDERABAD: J Surender Reddy, DCP, Special Operations Team (SOT), Rachakonda Police Commissionerate, who is the Investigating Officer (IO) in the alleged encounter case of the four accused in the rape and murder case of a veterinarian at Shadnagar in 2019, deposed before the judicial commission saying that he had collected the evidence in the form of statements of the panch witnesses, other witnesses, and other clues, while adding that the photographs and complete videography of the spot, including the place from where the victim’s articles was recovered, were not recorded.
When asked about the missing video clippings, Reddy said that the Clues team of Hyderabad City Police had recorded the photographs and videographs at the spot, but he had not asked them about the missing clips.He told the commission that he didn’t notice any modifications to the video clips which were created on December 6. The video clips were a part of the evidence submitted to the commission by the IO himself. He also admitted that he didn’t ask the Clues team the reason behind them submitting short video clips instead of the continuous video recording showing the complete topography of the spot.
When asked why he had not asked the Clues team about the same, he said, “The Clues team said they had given whatever they have recorded and those videos cover the entire field, HT tower, National Highway from where the police party, panch witnesses and the accused arrived at the scene.”
He also admitted to differences in the rough sketch of the spot and the inquest panchnama prepared by the Executive Magistrates at the spot. The inquest mentioned the presence of sticks and stones, which were alleged to have been used by the accused to attack the police party, but the IO said they were not mentioned in the rough sketch prepared by him.When the commission asked him, Reddy also could not produce any photograph and videographic evidence clearly showing GSR collected from the hands of the accused.