KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the crime branch to investigate the circumstances under which Maoists Manivasakam and Kannan alias Karthik were killed in an encounter at Manjikandi in the Attappadi forest area. The court also ordered a probe into the role of the cops who participated in the encounter.
While disposing of the petition filed by the relatives of the two Maoists, that sought an inquiry against the police officers, Justice R Narayana Pisharadi held that whatever be the penal and other provisions in the FIRs registered at Agali police station, the circumstances behind the deaths and the cause of their deaths should be probed. The probe should also include whether the police personnel involved in the encounter had committed any offence concerning the deaths. If the relatives are not satisfied with the probe, they can approach the sessions court, Palakkad at a later stage.
The court also directed the investigating officer to seize the firearms used by the policemen in the encounter that took place on October 28 and 29 and take steps to send them for forensic and ballistic analysis.
The court ordered that the fingerprints of the deceased shall be taken immediately and preserved properly. It further added that a report in this regard should be filed before the Sessions court immediately.
Meanwhile, vacating the interim order directing the police not to cremate the bodies, the court said that there was no necessity to further preserve the dead bodies. It said that the postmortem report had the necessary details about the injuries sustained by them. Their dead bodies shall be dealt with by the authorities concerned as per the prevailing rules and norms in that regard.
Senior Government Pleader Suman Chakravarthy informed the court that during the postmortem, the fingerprints had been collected and preserved. The petition had been filed by Murugesan M of Puthukottai and Lakshmi S of Salem, Tamil Nadu.
‘Seize weapons’
The court also directed the investigating officer to seize the firearms used by the policemen in the encounter that took place on October 28 and 29.