New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday gave another six months to a three-member inquiry commission to file the final report on the circumstances leading to the encounter killing of the four accused in the gangrape and murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad. The inquiry commission is headed by former Supreme Court judge VS Sirpurkar. The other members of the commission include former Bombay High Court judge Rekha Sondur Baldota and ex-CBI director DR Karthikeyan. A bench of Chief Justice Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said Friday “We will extend it by six months.” The bench perused an application filed by the commission seeking some more time for filing the report.
This is the second time the Supreme Court has granted six months’ time to the commission to file its final report. The commission was setup on December 12, 2019. The top court had on July 24, 2020 granted the Commission six -month extension to submit final report. The Supreme Court had appointed the panel, December 12, 2019.
The top court had then stayed proceedings pending in the Telangana High Court and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the case. It sought an SIT report and said no other authority shall inquire into the matter pending before the commission of inquiry till further orders.
Also read: All 4 accused of rape and murder of Hyderabad veterinarian killed in police encounter
It had ordered that security to the three-member commission shall be provided by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The six-month deadline for submission of the report by the commission shall start from the first day of hearing. The panel shall have all the power under the Commission of Inquiry Act for conducting inquiry into the December 6, 2019, encounter deaths.
The top court had noted that ‘conflicting versions about the incident demand an inquiry to uncover the true facts’.
Two petitions were filed in the Supreme Court. One was by lawyers GS Mani and Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the other by advocate M L Sharma. Both sought independent investigation against the police officers concerned. The PIL, filed by Mani and Yadav, claimed that the alleged encounter was ‘fake’. So an FIR should be lodged against the police officers involved in the incident.
The Telangana Police had said that the accused were killed in an exchange of fire. The incident took place around 6.30am when the accused were taken to the site of offence for the reconstruction of the scene of crime as part of the investigation.
The four accused were shot dead on NH-44 near Hyderabad. It was the same highway where the charred body of 27-year-old veterinarian was found. The police had claimed that the woman veterinarian was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and later found murdered November 27, 2019. Police said that the four accused had subsequently burned the body of the woman.