The Supreme Court on Thursday, ordered a three-member judicial inquiry into Telangana encounter in which 4 rape and murder accused were shot dead by Cyberabad police. The team of judicial inquiry will be headed by former Supreme Court judge VS Sirpurkar. The top court said that no other court or authority will be allowed to inquire into this matter until further orders are passed by them. The inquiry will be completed in six months.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi who appeared for the police said, “In the past the Court has appointed retired Supreme Court judge but to oversee the investigation, a judge can’t conduct the investigation.”
Replying to this, Chief Justice S A Bobde said, “If you say you’re going to prosecute them (policemen involved in encounter) in criminal court, there is nothing for us to do. But if you say they’re innocent then people must know truth. We don’t want to assume facts. Let there be inquiry, why are you resistant to that?”
On December 6, Hyderabad Police claimed that all the four accused in 26-year-old veterinary surgeon’s rape and murder case have been shot dead. They were taken to the murder site to recreate the events on that night as a part of investigation and tried to flee. According to the police, the encounter took place around 3AM.