AP Encounter: Recast SIT for Fair Investigation, Victims' Kin to tell HC

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 01st May 2015 

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Muniyammal, wife of A Sashi Kumar, one of the victims of the alleged encounters carried by Red Sander Anti-Smuggling Task Force (RSASTF) in Seshachalam forest, will approach the Hyderabad High Court on Friday seeking to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising non-AP cadre IPS officers for an unbiased probe into the incident.

The Andhra government has constituted an eight-member team to probe into the encounters, which claimed the lives of 20 Tamils on April 7.

 The AP government communicated to the HC that the SIT would be headed by IG of police Ravi Shankar Ayyankar, who has been repatriated from the National Investigation Agency, and would include Chittoor circle inspector S Chandrasekhar.

Muniyammal’s counsel K Balu told Express that they would challenge the SIT as Ayyankar was involved in about 20 encounters during his tenure as SP in Guntur. “The SIT under such an officer will not be an unbiased one and cannot be justified,” he said.  The inclusion of Chandrasekhar shows the intention of the AP government to cover up the fake encounter, he said adding, “The Inspector is serving in the disputed Chittoor division where the men were killed. Hence, we want a CBI enquiry or a SIT team comprising IPS officers of non-AP cadre to ascertain facts behind the encounter.”

It Was Massacre, Blatant Violation of Rights: NHRC

Express News Service

Puducherry: 

Justice D Murugesan, member of the National Human Rights Commission, on Thursday said the killing of 20 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu in Seshachalam forest by the Andhra special police force and forest officials is a clear case of blatant violation of human rights.

Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of NHRC camp sitting here on Thursday, he termed it as a “massacre”. He said that the NHRC was carrying out a simultaneous investigation into the incident though the AP Special Investigation Team has been conducting a probe.

Justice Murugesan said the matter was before the Hyderabad High Court which has been monitoring the investigation.

NHRC would collect all evidences and would go ahead with its probe abiding by the guidelines of the High Court. Revealing that three witnesses from Tamil Nadu had deposed before the Commission in New Delhi and Puducherry, he said an NHRC team visited the spot to collect information. The witnesses, their family members and relatives would be given police protection by the Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu following their apprehension that their lives were in danger.

Referring to a request by a lawyer on behalf of the residents of nearby areas of the Andhra forest, who have expressed their willingness to give their statements on the issue, he said the NHRC had asked them for a written request on the matter so that the sitting could be held in Chennai.

It may recalled that the witness Ilango (21), a resident of Jamunamarathur, Tiruvannamalai district, had recorded his statement before A K Parashar, joint registrar (law), NHRC in Puducherry on April 15. The NHRC has also recorded statements of Sekar (Thiruvannamalai) and Balamurugan (Dharmapuri) on the April 7 killings.

Sit checks out ‘encounter’ spot

Tirupati: A day after a meeting with Tirupati Urban police, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) visited the two encounter sites where 20 red sanders wood cutters were gunned down by the Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force of Andhra Pradesh.