National

The Hole In The Heart

The SC pulls up the Centre, Andhra Pradesh on the Azad ‘encounter’ death

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The Hole In The Heart
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On January 14, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R.M. Lodha heard two petitions filed by lawyer Prashant Bhushan on the death of Maoist leader Cherukuri Azad Rajkumar in an alleged encounter killing. After hearing the petitions, the judges observed that “we can’t allow the Republic killing its own children”. Nearly seven months after the death of Azad, the apex court was expressing its concern on the mysterious circumstances that surround police encounters.

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Outlook’s Sep 6, 2010, Story which showed that Azad had died of close-range wounds

In September last year, Outlook had reported that the post-mortem report of Azad’s body pointed to the presence of “blackening” and “burnt” edges around the bullet-entry wound area, indicating that the firing had been done from very close quarters. There were also several discrepancies in the police FIR and the inquest report of the encounter. However, the Andhra Pradesh government had rubbished the allegations of a fake encounter and had ordered a magisterial inquiry into Azad’s killing.

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None of these facts as recorded in the post-mortem report and discrepancies would have come to light but for the Coordination of Democratic Rights Organisations (CDRO), a national coalition of human rights organisations that probed the encounter. They also procured a copy of the post-mortem reports of Azad and journalist Hemchandra Pandey, another casualty of the encounter.

Bhushan, who was part of the CDRO fact-finding mission, filed the petitions in the apex court on behalf of social activist Swami Agnivesh and Bineeta, Pandey’s widow, seeking answers from the central and state government on the alleged fake encounter. In her petition, Bineeta points out that both the post-mortems indicate that it was close-range shots that killed the two men. According to medical forensics the world over, the presence of “blackening” and “burnt” edges on the bullet’s entry-point wounds indicates a shot fired from less than 7 cm.

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The post-mortem on Azad’s body was conducted on July 3, 2010, by two doctors of the Mancherial government hospital, ENT surgeon Dr Neelakanteswara Rao and anaesthetist Dr Chandraiah. Both are civil assistant surgeons and Dr Rao is a veteran of over a 1,000 post-mortems. Dr Chandraiah told Outlook that he had written the post-mortem report as Rao dictated it out to him. Sources close to one of the doctors say he firmly believes the blackening of the wound near the chest and the tattooing near the one on Azad’s right shoulder clearly indicate that the shots were fired from close range, probably less than three feet. Since the case is in the Supreme Court, it is likely the doctors will be called in to testify at some point.

The post-mortem of Pandey was conducted by Dr Aravind, an orthopaedician, and Dr A. Bhishma, the hospital superintendent. Dr Bhishma agreed the content in both post-mortem reports were his responsibility. “We will stand by our reports irrespective of what is recorded in them. Their interpretation might differ but we will stand by the reports per se,” he told Outlook.

Meanwhile, a fact-finding team from the Human Rights Forum, which visited the encounter site in the Sarkepally forest on July 6, 2010, says they are sure that there was no exchange of fire between the police and Azad/Pandey. The team spoke to locals and examined the encounter site. “That the police version of a nearly four-hour encounter in the dead of night in the course of which over 300 rounds were exchanged following which ‘two top Maoists’ died is an utter falsehood is proven by a perusal of the hillock where the alleged encounter took place. The hillock is about a kilometre from Kensuguda village amidst fairly thick forest,” the HRF claims in its report.

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Others like legendary social activist K.G. Kannabiran, who passed away earlier this year, had also questioned the official version. Talking to Outlook a few months ago, he had said, “Fake encounters are a favourite tool of the AP police. I have been fighting them for the last 30 years but I know I am going to lose this battle. They will wilfully conduct murder and we will never be able to do anything about it.” Veekshanam editor N. Venugopal says “the people of Andhra are sick of the police version which they have been reading over and over for the last 40 years. The wording is the same, with changes only in the proper nouns.”

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The SC has now issued notices to the central and state governments, seeking replies within six weeks. The bench also observed that “we hope there will be an answer...a good and convincing answer. The government will have to answer  many questions,” it said. The state government’s magisterial inquiry was done by revenue divisional officer G.K. Prasada Rao, who has held just one sitting so far, on September 6 last year.

Of course, police officials always point out that this is a “war against a group that challenges the Indian Constitution”. A senior police officer says the post-mortem findings can be “easily answered by the facts. In an encounter, the bullet can travel in any direction and a spinning one can also cause burnt edges. It doesn’t mean anything”. Another senior intelligence officer points out that dealing with the violent Maoists needs a “bullet-for-bullet strategy”. But people like Vamshi Krishna, a local reporter who broke the story, ask, “How did people in Hyderabad know it was Azad’s body even before a former colleague identified it? We were the first ones to reach the spot and we didn’t find Azad in his uniform and everything suggested a neat set-up. We have covered encounters before and Maoist leaders are never known to travel alone. So why was Azad alone?”

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Dead men tell no tales. But Azad’s death has thrown up several questions. The truth, as is usual in times of conflict, is the first casualty.

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