Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Friday directed Andhra Pradesh Police to furnish the case diary relating to a case registered in connection with the killing of 20 people in police firing in Seshachalam forests of Chittoor district on April 7.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar directed the Investigating Officer (IO) to produce before the court the case diary on April 28, while declining to accept for now the defence prayer seeking a CBI probe into the case.
The bench sought to know from Additional Advocate General D Srinivas about the stage of investigation pertaining to the case. "After FIR has been registered, whether the IO examined any person? Is anybody arrested or questioned," it asked.
The AAG informed the bench that preliminary steps were undertaken with regard to the matter. However, the complainant (Muniyammal and others) refused to record their statements before the police.
"A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted under an IG-rank officer to probe the incident," the AAG said.
Defence counsel V Raghunath submitted before the court that the FIR was registered only on April 14 and that too against "unknown" STF personnel, which he asserted "was a malicious intention to screen (shelter or protect) the culprits."
To this, the court observed: "At this stage (FIR against) "unknown" is appropriate. If you have any names (of those involved in the firing), tell the names. You can make a statement before magistrate."
When defence counsel insisted on the need for a CBI probe into the case, the bench responded: "You have not produced any (biased) material to substantiate the allegation. Therefore, at this stage we are not satisifed...unless you are in a position to establish that the IO is not conducting investigation impartially."
"Mere oral statement on questioning or doubting investigation won't do. Our objective is impartial, fair and independent investigation," the bench said, noting that under the court's monitoring even an "ordinary IO can do miracles."
"You (IO) must proceed with investigation. Let us see progress. How investigation has progressed. We direct the IO to produce case diary of investigation," the bench added.
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