HYDERABAD: The Telangana high court on Monday sought to know from the police authorities investigating and supervising the February 17 murders of lawyer couple — Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani — as to why they did not get the statements of the four accused recorded by a judicial magistrate till now.
A bench of Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy shot this poser to advocate general BS Prasad after going through the sealed cover status report furnished by him indicating the progress of the investigation. “Your report says that the four arrested accused confessed to committing the crime. Police recorded their confession statements under section 161 of CrPC. The same can be fortified by getting them recorded by a judicial magistrate because the statements of confession given to police do not carry any sanctity before a court of law,” the bench said.
A confession recorded by cops in the police station is recorded under section 161 of CrPC, while the same statement recorded by a judicial magistrate is done under section 164 of CrPC.
When Prasad said the practice in vogue here is to get statements of witnesses recorded by the magistrate and not the accused, the judges wanted to know whether they made any such effort in the first place.
“Did the accused refuse to give the statements before a magistrate,” they wondered.
The AG, after consulting the investigation officer who was also present before the virtual court assisting the state counsel, said that they have identified two eyewitnesses and a request was made to the judicial first class magistrate at Manthani to spare time to record the statements of the two eyewitnesses. “March 4 was allotted to us and we will be getting their first-hand accounts recorded,” the state counsel explained.
Responding to the persistent questions on recording the statements of the accused under section 164 of CrPC, the AG said that he would obtain instructions on this aspect and sought time to do so.
The judges sought an updated status report on this from the AG and also on whether police were taking adequate steps to provide security to the eyewitnesses. They also sought to know from the government and police whether they made any last-minute attempt to record the statement of Vaman Rao while shifting him in an ambulance to the hospital. “It could have been done by requesting the local MRO or some official who was readily available,” they said.
In the sealed cover report, it was said that CCTV footage pertained to the one extracted from CCTVs installed near Manthani court. The couple was heading towards Peddapalli on the fateful day they were hacked to death while returning from Manthani court. “But there was no footage pertaining to the murder spot as there are no CCTVs installed there. A person video-recorded the crime and also the last words of Vaman Rao who had named an accused in the video,” the AG said and added that the state had made him an important witness (No. 2) in the case.
“We secured all the electronic and physical evidence. Our efforts to trace some more incriminating evidence is still on,” he said. The AG further said they listed the bus conductor, some passengers and bystanders as they happened to be eyewitnesses. At this the judges sought an updated status report by March 15 and adjourned the case.