The Andhra Pradesh High Court has found fault with the way the police conducted themselves in Mudigonda, where seven persons were killed in police firing last Saturday while they were participating in an agitation by the Left parties demanding that the landless be allotted government land.

A Division Bench of the AP High Court on Tuesday asked why the government did not make any preventive arrests in Mudigonda of Khammam district despite knowing that the Left parties had called for a bundh on Saturday.

The Bench comprising chief justice G S Singhvi and justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy was hearing a petition filed by P N V Prasad, TDP  secretary. “Even in the event of firing, there are norms. In this case, they appear to have been ignored,” the Bench said.

Contradictory reports on the police firing have been submitted to the Bench. While a report by the Khammam district judge said there was no provocation for the police to open fire on the crowd, a report by the state DGP said the police fired on the mob only after being attacked.  Three policemen  responsible for the firing and who were suspended by the govt have blamed the anti-naxalite special police party for the firing.

However, a fact-finding team of the All India Lawyers’ union has concluded that the police firing was premeditated.