Police at the site in Chittoor where 20 alleged red sanders smugglers were killed last week
The Hyderabad High Court has ordered a second autopsy on the body of Sasi Kumar, one of the 20 alleged red sanders smugglers killed by policemen in a controversial encounter in the forests of Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh last week.
Sasi Kumar's wife, Muniamma, had approached the Hyderabad High Court after the Madras High Court directed her to approach a court in Andhra Pradesh, where the incident occurred.
The court said the fresh autopsy must be conducted by doctors from Hyderabad's Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, a top government hospital in Telangana, even as Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have had serious differences over the issue. All 20 men belonged to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which has demanded prompt action against the policemen who killed them.
Sasi Kumar's body along with those of five other men killed in Chittoor, has been preserved in a mortuary in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvannamalai under court orders. An autopsy was conducted on all 20 bodies in Tirupati one day after the incident.
But Muniamma and the families of the other victims want a second investigation. They allege that the men were killed in a staged encounter. She had also written to the Chittoor police asking them to register a case of murder under section 302; the police have registered a case of abduction and murder against unknown policemen.
Two men have claimed that at least 12 of those shot dead were pulled off a bus by Andhra Pradesh policemen and were arrested hours before they were shot dead. They have recorded statements before the National Human Rights Commission today.
The Andhra Pradesh police claim that the men were notorious smugglers of red sandalwood or red sanders and were killed after they attacked a task force team of forest officials and armed guards. They claim that the team was outnumbered and fired in self-defence.
Activists have questioned the police version pointing at the state of the bodies. Some of the bodies have burn marks; others show bullet injuries in the chest and head, which activists say challenge the police claim of self-defence.
Andhra Pradesh forest minister B Gopala Krishna Reddy has said there is evidence that men who were killed were "habitual offenders" in trading red sandalwood illegally.