Shadnagar encounter: Directed to lie down when accused started firing, says Head Constable

HYDERABAD: Head Constable Devarashetty Srikanth, the handler of one of the accused Chintakunta Chennakesavulu, while deposing on Friday before the judicial commission set up to probe the alleged Shadnagar encounter killing, said that when the accused threw soil into the eyes of the police party and started running away, he, along with other members of the police party, tried to run to catch them from running away. 

“However, by the time the firing started (from the accused), we were directed to lie down and I lay down. I tried to climb the bund (to catch the accused), but by that time, the firing had started,” he said, adding that they did not try hitting back at the accused with stones. 

The counsel for the commission asked him if the entire field was covered with the grass and there was no visible soil at all, so as to pick up and throw it at the eyes of the 10 policemen, Srikanth replied saying that the bund was made of soil and it was about 2.5-feet high. “There is no need to bend down to pick up the soil,” he clarified.

The counsel then showed him a few photographs covering the spot where the incident took place and asked if he could ‘see that all the bunds are fully covered with grass.’ In reply, he said, “There was grass on all the bunds and there was soil also on the bunds on the day of the incident.” When asked to point the spot from which the victim’s articles were recovered in photographs, he said, “It is not clear.”