20 labourers shot dead in Chittoor: Encounter or staged murder?

In a shocking revelation, a Tamil Nadu villager named Sekar, who alleges to have escaped from the police encounter in which 20 labourers were shot dead by the AP police on Tuesday, stated that 7 out of the 20 were picked up from a bus.

When The Indian Express approached Sekar, who had gone into hiding fearing the cops, he revealed that he was travelling with the other seven in a bus, when police got into the bus and led them out of the bus.

Police didn't pick up Sekar as there was a woman sitting next to him, whom they thought to be his wife and spared him.

Now, there are two contradictory versions, one from the AP police and the other from Sekar who alleges to be a witness.

Firstly, AP police had stated that the labourers had attacked them with axes and knives when they tried to stop them and thus they fired at them in retaliation.

However, the witness claims that 7 out of the 20 were picked up from a bus just hours before the incident took place.

Secondly, according to a report published in Times of India, there were no sandalwood trees around the place where the incident took place.

Thirdly, CPI leader P Harinath Reddy, who visited the spot of incident, told that the knives and other weapons recovered from the place were rusted and one couldn't have used it for cutting purpose.

Amidsts protests by human right activists and political leaders over the encounter of 20 labourers, the Andhra Pradesh government had released a CCTV footage on Wednesday, showing some men carrying logs of red sanders from the forest.

CPI leader Janardhan claimed that the footage was a false evidence as it was shot in Mamandur forest.