E-Paper
Telangana court orders fresh trial into Maoist’s encounter
A local court in Telangana’s Adilabad district has directed the munsif magistrate court to hold a fresh trial into the role of police personnel involved in the killing of Communist Party of India (Maoist) central committee member and spokesman Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in an alleged encounter on July 1, 2010
A local court in Telangana’s Adilabad district has directed the munsif magistrate court to hold a fresh trial into the role of police personnel involved in the killing of Communist Party of India (Maoist) central committee member and spokesman Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in an alleged encounter on July 1, 2010.
District court chief judge M R Suneetha passed the directive on Tuesday and asked the munsif court to complete the trial within three months. The munsif court was also asked to probe the killing of journalist Hemachandra Pandey along with Azad in the alleged encounter.
“The district court took up the case following the directions of Telangana high court in July, while striking down the petition of the policemen refuting the allegations of the victims’ family that it was a fake encounter. After hearing the arguments, the district court gave its judgement on Tuesday,” Ahmed Abdul Raheem, an advocate who argued on behalf of the victims, told HT.
Azad and Pandey were killed in an alleged exchange of fire between a Maoist party and police at Sankepalli village in Asifabad block of Adilabad district (presently in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district) on July 1, 2010. In April 2011, Pandey’s wife Bineetha and rights activist Swami Agnivesh filed a petition in the Supreme Court, alleging the encounter was fake and sought a comprehensive probe into the killings. The Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe into the encounter.
In March 2012, the CBI submitted a report to the Supreme Court, stating that it was n actual encounter and gave a clean chit to 29 police personnel who participated in the encounter. However, Azad’s wife Padma and Pandey’s wife Bineetha filed a protest petition in the trial court but it dismissed the pleas.
