SC grants 6 months to inquiry panel on encounter killings of accused in Hyderabad rape, murder case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted further six months time to the three-member inquiry commission, headed by former apex court judge V S Sirpurkar, to file the final report on encounter killing of the four accused in the case of gang-rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant sought to know from the lawyer appearing for the inquiry panel as to how much more time it wanted to conclude the probe.

The bench referred to a similar panel, set up to inquire into the encounter killing of gangster Vikas Dubey in Uttar Pradesh, and said it has already filed the report.

The commission was headed by former Supreme Court judge B S Chauhan and had concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that the encounter of Dubey was staged.

Advocate K Parameshwar, appearing for the Sirpurkar panel, submitted that the delay was due to over 130 witnesses and Covid-19 situation.

After this, the bench allowed the application filed by the panel for another six months time to complete its probe.

The top court had set up the Sirpurkar panel on December 12, 2019 to inquire into the circumstances leading to the encounter and submit the report in six months.

The other members of the commission include former Bombay High Court judge Rekha Sondur Baldota and ex-CBI director D R Karthikeyan.

With Tuesday's order, the term of the inquiry panel has now been extended thrice.

Four accused, Mohammed Arif, Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu, Jolu Shiva, and Jollu Naveen were arrested in connection with the gang rape and murder of the veterinary lady doctor in November, 2019. On December 6, 2019, these four accused were killed in an encounter in Hyderabad, when they allegedly attacked policemen and tried to flee during the collection of evidence.