High Court Takes Control of Probe Team in Red Sanders Killings

HYDERABAD: In a setback for the Andhra Pradesh government, the High Court on Tuesday took control of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that has been asked to investigate the alleged encounter that led to the death of 20 purported red sanders woodcutters from Tamil Nadu.
Issuing interim orders, the division bench headed by chief justice Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta directed the team to work under the court's direction and not that of the state government.

The High Court in Hyderabad was hearing petitions fil ed by the families of the victims, political parties and activists from Tamil Nadu.They have been protesting against the killings and questioning the claims of the Andhra Pradesh police that its personnel opened fire in self defence on April 7. Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam had also sought a fair, speedy probe into the alleged encounter.

While going through the case diary of the police killings, the High Court expressed dissatisfaction over the way the case was handled by the police. The National Human Rights Commission last week appointed a team to inquire into the alleged encounter.