Hyderabad: Five years since the four accused in the rape-murder of a veterinarian were shot down on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad national highway, a case pleading to charge the involved Cyberabad police of murder is dragging before the Telangana High Court.
The encounter triggered by the alleged escape bid of Md Arif, Chintakunta Chennakesavulu, Jollu Shiva and Jollu Naveen while in police custody, took place in the wee hours of 6 December, 2019, within a week of the four accused, after misleading the lone veterinarian with the pretext of helping her, gangraped and killed her.
The rape and murder of the 26-year-old veterinarian had sent shockwaves across the country, and she was hailed as Disha while the masses sought justice for her.
V.C. Sajjanar, the then Cyberabad commissioner, was hailed as ‘Singham’ and ‘Saaho’ by social media users invoking movie parallels to celebrate the encounter as well as the policemen.
In September 2021, the 1996-batch IPS officer was transferred and posted as the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) where he continues to serve. He is of Additional DGP rank.
The SC appointed Justice Sirpurkar commission’s 2022 report on the encounter, while absolving Sajjanar, stated that 10 police officers involved in the encounter—Vasam Surender, Narasimha Reddy, Shaik Lal Madhar, Mohammed Sirajuddin, Kocherla Ravi, K Venkateswarlu, Arvind Goud, D. Janakiram, Balu Rathod and D Srikanth—“are to be tried for the offences under Section 302 r/w 34 IPC, 201 r/w 302 IPC and 34 IPC”.
The provisions relate to charges of murder and destruction of evidence.
Vasam Surender, then ACP Shadnagar, a division under Cyberabad police Commissionerate, where the woman’s body was burnt under an underpass and subsequent encounter of the accused occurred, took voluntary retirement from the police service in July 2023, with three years of service left. He is now a practicing advocate at the Telangana High Court.
Vasam, the investigation officer of the rape-murder case, was at the encounter, along with nine other policemen under him.
While reports claimed that Vasam (58) was miffed by loop-line postings, DSP Vigilance at Telangana power transmission corporation being one, and the case strain, the former cop says it is not the case. “I have always been passionate about becoming a lawyer and am happy I am in the profession now,” Vasam told ThePrint.
Of the other nine policemen in the shootout, Reddy, Madhar, Ravi, Venkateshwarulu are of inspector rank, after three Sub-Inspector rank officers were promoted since the encounter, as per normal procedures.
The remaining five—Sirajuddin, Goud, Janakiram, Rathod and Srikanth—are serving as head constables, constables in the Telangana police though posted elsewhere now.
“People talk about Disha, and some about the accused but our pains, troubles are often unheeded. We were present there on that fateful day, doing our duty, and things happened like that. No one expected …,” one of the constables told ThePrint
“These cases have disturbed our families and continue to strain us as we need to attend the court proceedings, anxious of the outcome. We hope for a closure soon.”
The case was last heard on 30 September, and all the parties are awaiting the next hearing date.
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What panel said
The encounter, at Chatanpally, on Hyderabad outskirts, close to Bangalore highway, according to the police, occurred when the suspects were brought to the crime site to track the victim’s missing mobile phone and other belongings.
The police claimed that Arif and Chennakeshavulu suddenly snatched two weapons and started firing at them. And as the offenders did not heed their warnings to surrender, they were forced to open fire.
While the hitherto enraged people cheered the Telangana police action as “exemplary” and those on the ground showered flower petals on the cops at the site after the encounter, some activists and advocates challenged the encounter as extra judicial killings.
Hearing the matter, the Supreme Court had on 12 December 2019, appointed a commission chaired by Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, a former SC judge, to inquire into the circumstances in which the four accused were killed while in police custody.
As its proceedings were impeded by the Covid pandemic, the commission, operating from the premises of the Telangana High Court, finally submitted its report to the apex court in January 2022.
The commission opined that “the accused were deliberately fired upon with an intent to cause their death and with the knowledge that the firing would invariably result in the death of the deceased suspect”.
“The different acts committed by each of the 10 officers were done in furtherance of common intention to kill the deceased suspects,” it added.
The policemen have challenged the report in the Telangana HC, charging it as biased against them, without a fair hearing. A single judge bench had stayed the report’s implementation i.e., including booking the officers for murder.
P.V.Krishnamachary, advocate representing the families of the four slain accused, said their December 2022 writ petition in the high court is seeking declaration of the “extra judicial killings of the deceased/suspects in the alleged fake encounter” as being illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory violation of Article 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution and violation of the Rule of law.
“All these cops, including Sajjanar, should be booked and tried for the murder of the four young men. The case should be entrusted to the CBI or NIA for a fair investigation. All the four accused come from deprived families; we have also sought compensation for their families to the tune of Rs 1 crore each for the brutal murder while in judicial custody,” Krishnamachary told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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