Chittoor encounter fake, says fact-finding team

Chennai: A seven-member fact-finding team that was probing the recent encounter between Andhra Pradesh Police and alleged red sanders smugglers, has declared it as fake, and demanded a fair inquiry by two government-appointed commissions.

Speaking to media here, Prof. A. Marx of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations said, "Already, the media has exposed it as a fake encounter. We have got various evidences which proved that it was a fake encounter. We demand two things-the Chittoor encounter should be enquired by a separate commission and it should be enquired into in a fair manner, and secondly an independent judicial commission should be formed to conduct an inquiry into existence of a mafia running red sander smuggling operations."

He further said the inquiry teams should neither be from Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh.

Prof A. Marx also said that there seemed to some sort of bias in play in that only Tamils were being eliminated in these encounters.

"We should see to this aspect too. People have started thinking that Tamil Hadu doesn't raise its voice over the killing of laborerss belonging to its state. We are also demanding that the Tamil Nadu Government take steps in bringing back Tamilian laborers who are in Andhra Pradesh prisons," he said.

Prof. Marx said that a compensation of Rs.25 lakhs should be paid to the families of the 20 victims who were killed in the Chitoor encounter.

He also questioned the need for yoga guru Baba Ramdev to use auctioned red sanders for his yoga classes and for preparing medicines to be sold in India and abroad for profit.

Alamelu, the wife of a man arrested by the Andhra Pradesh Police, said that she was from a small village near Coimbatore and that a false case had been foisted on her husband.

"We went to Tirupathi for Darshan and were returning. My husband and his brother went to have tea and police came and asked where he was from. When my husband replied in Tamil, he was taken away by police. My brother-in-law came away. We went and asked and the people nearby said that some higher official had been killed and so the officials are arresting people talking in Tamil," she said.

"We have spent a lot for the case and even for signing in court, but my husband was not brought to court. We are from a poor background and only by pledging my house, am I managing with the daily food and my children studies," she added.

"I have spent all money for this case and nothing has happened so far. I don't know what our future is. I request the state government to take necessary action and help me to bring back my husband," Alamelu said.

Kanagarani, the wife of Venkatesh, one of the 20 killed in the Chitoor encounter, said, "My husband use to work as painter and he went to his job on Sunday and only after seeing the news, we came to know that he had been shot dead. I don't know what to say. He was working as a painter and has been shot dead."