NHRC team begins probe

Mahbubnagar: A day after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordered an inquiry, a team of the human rights body began on-the-spot investigation on Saturday into the 'encounter' of the four accused in the rape and murder of a woman veterinarian by the Telangana police on Friday.

The apex human rights body had earlier said the encounter was a matter of concern and needed to be investigated carefully. "The commission is of the opinion that the matter is required to be probed very carefully.

Accordingly, it has asked its Director General (Investigation) to immediately send a team for a fact-finding, on-the-spot investigation into the matter," the NHRC had said.

The five-member team visited the hospital where the bodies of the accused were kept after post mortem in Mahbubnagar. The NHRC team also has a forensic expert and is led by a senior SP.

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) members, who inspected the encounter and murder spot, included SHRC president Professor Laxman and its secretary Narayana Rao.

Before entering the hospital, the NHRC team waited for a team of doctors from Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad and at around 3.30 pm they entered the hospital.

It is learnt that the NHRC members sought a detailed report on the encounter sequence from the police and at the same time they also asked the doctors to furnish the details of the post mortem report of the 4 accused. Based on the reports from the police and doctors, the Commission is expected to come to a conclusion whether the encounter was a real one or not.

Later, the NHRC team visited the encounter site at Chatanpalli village and also the place where the woman was allegedly raped on the night of November 27. They inspected the area where the reported encounter took place.

The police had cordoned off the area and explained the circumstances that led to the shootout. A large number of people had come to the spot on the second day of the encounter as news spread that the NHRC team was reaching here.

Sources said that the top police officials of the Cyberabad Police Commissionerate and Revenue officials accompanied the NHRC team and explained the sequence of incidents in the murder of Disha and submitted a preliminary report to the Commission in which the cops explained the unavoidable circumstances leading to the killing of the accused in the encounter.