Hyderabad (Telangana):The Justice VS Sirpurkar commission on Friday rejected the claims of Hyderabad police about the Dec 2019 encounter killings in the Disha case. The SC appointed commission in its report to the top court has recommended the trial of the policemen accused of the murder, adding that the police version that 4 accused snatched pistols & ran is false and the accused were 'deliberately fired upon to cause death' and not in self-defence.
The 387-page report to this effect has been submitted to the Supreme court. It further states that it is hard to believe that the accused have died in counterattacks and that the inquiry on 10 police officers should be conducted. They are V Surender, K Narasimha reddy, Sheikh Lal Madhar, Mohammed Sirajuddin, Kocherla Ravi, K Venkateswarlu, S Arvind Goud, Janakiram, R Balu rathod and D Srikanth.
The Supreme Court also ordered sharing of the sealed cover report of a three-member inquiry commission on the encounter killings of four accused in a case of gang rape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad and transferred the matter to the Telangana High Court for further action. A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli did not agree to the submissions of senior advocate Shyam Divan that the report be kept in a sealed cover.
This relates to the encounter case. There is nothing to keep here. The Commission has found someone guilty. We want to send the matter to the high court, the bench said. We have to send the case back to the high court, we cannot monitor this case. A detailed report is submitted. Question is what proper action is to be taken. They have made some recommendations, the bench said, adding, We direct the commission secretariat to provide a copy of the report to both parties...
Earlier, the bench had refused to share with lawyers the sealed cover report for the time being of the Commission headed by apex court judge Justice (since retired) V S Sirpurkar which probed the encounter killing of the four accused. It, however, had directed its registry to provide a copy of the report submitted by the Justice Sirpurkar inquiry panel to the judges on the bench.
Also Read:All 4 accused in Hyd vet rape-murder shot dead in encounter, 2 cops injured
Let us go through the report first, the CJI had said while expressing reservation to share the sealed cover report for the time being with the lawyers concerned. Prior to this, the top court, on August 3, last year, had granted the extension of six months to the Commission, headed by former apex court judge VS Sirpurkar, to file the final report on the encounter killing of the four accused in the case of gang-rape and murder of the veterinarian.
The Sirpurkar panel was set up on December 12, 2019, to inquire into the circumstances leading to the encounter and was to submit the report in six months. The other members of the Commission include former Bombay High Court judge Rekha Sondur Baldota and ex-CBI director D R Karthikeyan. The term of the inquiry panel has now been extended thrice. It was extended in July 2020 for the first time for six months.