The Hyderabad high court on Thursday ordered a second post-mortem to perform on the body of Sashi Kumar, one of the 20 alleged “smuggler-woodcutters” killed in the Seshachalam encounter on April 7.
The court decision was based on a plea of Maniyammal, wife of the deceased, expressing doubts over the police version of the encounter and the probe. The court had earlier asked the state government for the copies of the first post-mortem reports.
A team of doctors from Hyderabad would go to Tamil Nadu to perform the task in Chennai and the autopsy report would be submitted to the HC. The court directed the TN government to ensure security and maintain peace in the state during the procedure. The state has been witnessing protests and attacks on Andhra establishments since the encounter.
Six bodies of the killed in the encounter are preserved in a government hospital at Tiruvannamalai.
The Andhra Pradesh government had on Wednesday informed the court that police had registered a case of murder in the incident where a Special Task Force team killed 20 alleged smugglers from Tamil Nadu on morning of April 7 in the Seshachalam forests.
An FIR has been registered in the case under section 302 (murder), 364 (abduction for murder), 34 (act of several persons in furtherance of common intention) based on a complaint filed by Maniyammal.
