Hyderabad: Disha encounter fake, book 10 cops for murder, says Supreme Court panel

HYDERABAD: The four accused in the 2019 Disha rape and murder case were killed in a fake encounter while in police custody and the 10 cops involved in it should be booked for murder, the Supreme Court-appointed commission to inquire into the killings has said in its report submitted to the apex court. It also concluded that three of the four accused were minors while holding the cops responsible for destroying or withholding evidence.
In its 387-page report, submitted to the Supreme Court in February, the three-member commission headed by Justice V S Sirpurkar concluded that "the accused were deliberately fired upon with an intent to cause death and with the knowledge that the firing would invariably result in death".

However, the commission made no mention of any senior police officials other than the 10 cops present at the encounter site.
During a hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday, the bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana transmitted the entire matter back to the Telangana high court to consider submissions of the parties and disposed of the PIL.
The three minors along with one Md Arif were arrested by police on November 29, 2019, for the gangrape and murder of Disha, a veterinary doctor, on the intervening night of November 27 & 28 at Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Her burnt body was found at an underpass at Chattanpally. The gruesome crime had created widespread outrage with protests and candlelight vigils being organised across the country.
The four accused J -Shiva, Ch Chennakeshavulu, J Naveen (all now held as minors) and Md Arif — were killed at Chattanpally on December 6, 2019. Subsequently, following a writ petition, the SC had on December 12, 2019, set up the commission of inquiry (CoI) under the chairmanship of former SC judge VS Sirpurkar with former judge of Bombay high court RP Sondur Baldota and former CBI director DR Karthikeyan as members.
"Each one of the cops was responsible for the safekeeping of the four deceased suspects. If either by acts or omissions they failed to fulfil their responsibility, then their common intention to cause the deaths of the suspects is established. Their conduct subsequent to the deaths of the suspects in falsifying the record would indicate that not only did they act in furtherance of common intention to give false information in order to screen the offenders, but also that they all acted with the common intention to cause the deaths of the four deceased suspects," the commission said.
The commission said that while the three cops who opened fire are liable to be tried under IPC Section 302 (murder), the trio along with seven of their colleagues, including ACP V Surender (IO of the Disha rape and murder case), are to be tried under Sections 302 (murder) r/w 34, 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) r/w 302 and 34 of the IPC as the different acts committed by each of them were done in furtherance of common intention to kill the suspects.
The commission trashed the cops' claim that the accused, who had no prior experience with guns, snatched police weapons by throwing mud in their eyes and opened fire while running away. It pointed to cops claim that they could not find any bullets or spent cartridges from the encounter site as well as the fact that no cop suffered any bullet injury. It also stated that the nature of the injuries suffered by the two cops did not require admission in the ICU for three days.
The report also mentions that police may have deliberately withheld information.
"Above all, there is a grave suspicion that the best evidence in respect of CCTV footage, video recording of inquest and crime scene etc., has been withheld from the commission," the report said.