No CBI probe into Seshachalam encounter: Hyderabad High Court

Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice S.V. Bhatt of the division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday cleared that the a CBI probe won’t be ordered into the Seshachalam encounter where 20 woodcutters belonging to Tamil Nadu were killed on April 7, 2015.

With petitions being filed by Muniammal, wife of Sashi Kumar and Chilaka Sudhakar, general secretary of the Civil Liberties Committee seeking to book police personnel involved in the encounter under Section 302 of the IPC (murder), the bench refused the request of Vrinda Grover who is the counsel for the victims’ families.

Vrinda Grover had made a request to record statements of Sekhar, Elango and Balachandran eyewitness in the case under Section 164 of CRPC before any magistrate in Tamil Nadu. These eyewitnesses stated that they escaped the police from a bus in which the cops shifted 20 persons and eliminated them in the name of encounter after subjecting them to brutal torture.

As the SIT is not an independent agency, a CBI probe was necessary as high profile and influential people are involved in the case, Mr V. Raghunath, counsel for the Civil Liberties told the court. The bench reacted to the submissions and stated that there is no need for CBI probe with the ongoing probe by the SIT and the court. Posting the case to August 3, the bench directed the SIT to inform the court about the progress of the investigation on the day.