Beginning its fact-finding probe, a seven-member NHRC team on Saturday visited the site where the four men arrested on charges of gangrape and murder of a veterinarian were shot dead in an alleged encounter. Meanwhile, two PILs were filed in the Supreme Court seeking investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the killings and action against the police.
A day after the pre-dawn 'encounter', Telangana police said that they have registered a case in connection with the incident and the four accused killed by it in "retaliatory firing" have been booked for "attacking" the cops who had accompanied them.
The team from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), including a forensic medicine expert, reached Chatanpally village, about 50 km from Hyderabad, and visited the spot where the charred remains of the victim were found beneath a culvert on November 28 as also the encounter site nearby.
“They visited the scene of the crime and are in the process of investigation,” DCP (Shamshabad Zone), N Prakash Reddy, told the media.
Officials said the team examined the bodies of the accused kept at the mortuary at the government hospital in Mahabubnagar. An expert who is part of the team that conducted the autopsy said the NHRC team checked whether the post-mortem was conducted as per protocol, among others.
He said the post-mortem report would be prepared in two days.
Meanwhile, two petitions were filed on Saturday in the Supreme Court seeking a SIT probe into the killings and compensation for the families of the four men.
While the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by advocate M L Sharma said that the SIT probe should be monitored by former apex court judges, a separate petition filed by lawyers G S Mani and Pradeep Kumar Yadav said that independent investigation against concerned police officials should be conducted.
Sharma alleged that it was a case of "extra-judicial killings" and sought prosecution of policemen involved in the incident.
The PIL, which may come up for hearing next week, also seeks action against Samajwadi Party MP and Bollywood actress Jaya Bachchan and Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women Swati Maliwal for alleged "provocation" and "pressuring police for extrajudicial killing of arrested persons in police custody without trial."
The Cyberabad Police had said its personnel had resorted to "retaliatory" firing after two of the accused opened fire at them by snatching their weapons besides attacking the latter with stones and sticks, resulting in injuries to two policemen.
Police had said they had taken the accused to the scene of crime to recover the victim's phone and for reconstruction of events.