The forest area in Chittoor where the encounter took place.
The bodies of the 20 alleged sandalwood smugglers killed in the forests of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh serve as an alarming visual diary of how the men, many of them from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, were killed. Some of the bodies have burn marks; others show bullet injuries in the chest and head, challenging the police claim that they opened fire in self-defence.
Anger in Chittoor was channeled into protests today. Tamil Nadu has discontinued some bus services to Andhra Pradesh. Adding to the tension are accounts like the one offered by the headman of a small village in Tamil Nadu who says some of the victims were headed to Tirupati in search of jobs when they were pulled off the bus by policemen from Andhra Pradesh.
The shooting has provoked furious protests from human rights activists and a demand from Tamil Nadu for an independent inquiry. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu today briefed Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the encounter. "Police has to defend themselves when somebody tries to kill them," said JV Ramudu, the Director General of Police in Chittoor, adding that "rumours" must be ignored and a magisterial inquiry will determine the facts.
A police task force said that early on Tuesday morning, it was attacked with knives and axes in the Chittoor forests in the biggest operation in recent years to catch illegal sandalwood traders. Top officers have so far not divulged how many policemen and forest officials were involved in the encounter. The fact that none were injured, activists say, suggest that the police was not ambushed.
Logs of the rare red sandalwood or red sanders that the police claims to have collected from the victims have government markings, according to Congress leader Chintah Mohan. This, he said, proves that wood had not been illicitly felled. "This area doesn't even have red sanders trees," Mr Mohan said.