Hyderabad: Faced with questions over the encounter killing of five suspected terror operatives, including the notorious Viqaruddin Ahmed, the Telangana government ordered probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the circumstances that led to the incident.
“Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to order a full inquiry on the recent encounter near Aleru, Nalgonda district, by a Special Investigation Team (SIT),’’ an official release said, adding the decision was taken in view of doubts expressed by certain organisations and some individuals on the incident.
Civil rights organisations, Viqaruddin’s family members and the MIM have raised questions over the manner in which Viqaruddin Ahmed and his associates were gunned down by the police while bringing them from the Warangal central prison for a court hearing in Hyderabad on April 4.
MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi had alleged that the ‘encounter’ was in retaliation to the killing of four police personnel by SIMI activists in Suryapet and Janakipuram. The MIM chief had also led a delegation of Muslim religious leaders to the Chief Minister and expressed concerns over the genuineness of the encounter. KCR had sought three days to look into the matter. KCR instructed Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma to issue orders appointing the Special Investigating Team. It is, however, not yet decided who will head the SIT and whether it will be given any timeframe to submit its report.
Soon after the encounter, DGP Anurag Sharma had issued a statement narrating the sequence of events that culminated in the killing of Viqar and his associates. According to him, Viqar asked the escort police to stop the vehicle to relieve himself. The police accepted his request but after getting back into the vehicle, Viqar tried to snatch the rifle of a policeman leading to the killings.
