HYDERABAD: The Human Rights Forum has urged the Central Bureau of Investigation to issue a statement assuring protection to potential witnesses to the killing of Maoist leader Ch Rajkumar alias Azad and journalist Hemachandra Pandey in an 'encounter'.In a representation submitted to CBI joint director VV Lakshminarayana on Friday, the HRF alleged that the killings of Azad and Pandey were murders and not ‘encounter deaths' as made out by the police. “In most of the cases of fake encounters, police intimidate witnesses to prevent them from deposing the truth,'' it said. HRF state president S Jeevan Kumar told the CBI that there were several media reports suggesting that Azad and Pandey were picked up by the police in Nagpur on July 1, were brought to the Sarkepally area in Adilabad district and shot dead. As per the police version, the encounter took place on the intervening night of July 1 and 2.“We hope the CBI will diligently probe the deaths from this angle as well and also widen the ambit of criminal conspiracy by building a strong case that will lead to criminal prosecution of all those involved in these reprehensible extra-judicial killings,'' Jeevan Kumar said. HRF members welcomed the CBI move to register a case under Section 302 (murder) of IPC besides Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (conspiracy).In the representation, the members also said time and again the police had shot dead both armed and unarmed cadre as well as sympathisers of various Naxalite parties, often after torturing them. Refuting the reasoning given by Adilabad district superintendent of police Pramod Kumar that Azad and Pandey had died in an exchange of fire, the rights activists termed it as falsehood. Citing its fact-finding teams' findings about the killings, the forum said it was impossible for the police to have come out unscathed after an encounter because the Maoists had the advantage of being located on a hilltop above the police. “Significantly, the post-mortem report clearly indicates that the bullets that hit the deceased were fired from a close range. If there were a fierce exchange of fire, as being claimed by the state police, many bullets would have hit the trees . But there were no bullets except at the places where the two bodies were found,'' HRF state president said.
Comments
0 comment