Telangana encounter probe panel gets six-month extension due to Covid-19 pandemic

The petition sought an independent probe into the killing of the four people accused of raping and murdering a 26-year old veterinarian amid growing public outrage. The ghastly rape-murder took place in the outskirts of Hyderabad on November 27 and had shocked the entire country.

The Supreme Court has granted a six-month extension to an inquiry commission probing the alleged encounter killings of four rape-murder accused in Telangana. The extension came on a request made by the Commission Chairman, former apex court judge, Justice VS Sirpurkar who cited the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions for its inability to complete the enquiry by the allotted deadline of September 3. The commission requested for a six-month extension.

On December 6, in a shootout with the police, the four men were killed as they tried to escape. (STYLE PHOTO SERVICE.)

Passing an order on the commission’s application, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde and comprising of Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said, “We grant six months’ further time to the Inquiry Commission to submit its final report.”

The application filed on July 16 stated, “Even though the work of the commission is continuing, the same could not be completed because of the prevailing pandemic situation…Therefore, the inquiry commission is constrained to apply for an extension of time of six months from the date the commission is able to function with physical hearings, spot inspections etc.”

The other two members of the Inquiry Commission are former judge of the Bombay High Court, Justice Rekha Baldota and former Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) DR Karthikeyan. The Commission was constituted on December 12, 2019 by a bench headed by CJI SA Bobde on a petition filed by two lawyers GS Mani and Pradeep Kumar Yadav.

The petition sought an independent probe into the killing of the four people accused of raping and murdering a 26-year old veterinarian amid growing public outrage. The ghastly rape-murder took place in the outskirts of Hyderabad on November 27 and had shocked the entire country. On December 6, in a shootout with the police, the four men were killed as they tried to escape.

The apex court tasked the Commission to verify the claims of the petition and examine the veracity of police claims. The Commission met once in February and was scheduled to meet next in March, this year. Due to their advanced age, none of the members could travel or meet amid the Covid-19 pandemic.