A Division Bench of the Hyderabad High Court comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhat on Friday directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Seshachalam encounter, wherein woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were killed in police firing, to submit a copy of the final report by July 8.
The Bench was dealing with the batch of cases filed by spouses of some of the woodcutters and civil rights groups. It may be recalled that in the first week of April, 2015, 20 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were killed when the police opened fire.
The police claimed that they were attacked by the woodcutters when they were asked to stop and surrender. The petitioners alleged that this was cold blooded killing and the story of encounter was false.
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The High Court Bench was monitoring the progress of investigation so that it would not drag on for long. One case was filed questioning the constitution of the SIT alleging that some of the officers had a track record of fake encounters.
When the case came up for hearing on Friday, the Bench was told that the final report as per the criminal procedure was already filed in the court concerned, and this would be considered by the criminal court on June 25. The Bench said the present batch of cases wouldbe taken up in July and the SIT was to submit a copy of charge sheet by then.