Tirupati: The 346 red sanders porters accused of killing Forest department officials N.R. Sridhar and David Karunakar, who were taken into custody within hours after the incident in December last year, were produced before the magistrate in the first ever open court held in Tirupati on Tuesday.
The Tirupati Urban police wing and the task force, who had nabbed the anti-social elements, had filed chargesheets on the 87th day after their arrest, which ensured a “longer stay” for the red sanders porters behind the bars.
Meanwhile, in view of the difficulties of holding the trial of all the 346 woodcutters involved in the brutal killings of the officials inside a court hall, the Tarakarama stadium was turned into an open court for the trial.
Incidentally, the number of arrests of red sanders smugglers and woodcutters in recent times has gone up so steeply that the district prison authorities have requested the district collector as well as the district police administration to shift them to prisons outside the district.
For the trial of the 346 woodcutters, the district police wing turned the Tarakarama stadium into a high security zone with close to 120 armed policemen guarding the stadium. Meanwhile, 240 armed policemen shifted the accused in 13 special buses to the stadium amid tight security.
The buses were directly let into the stadium but the prisoners were kept inside the vehicles till the magistrate arrived. And in view of the open court in Tirupati, the district police administration strictly banned entry of outsiders and even media persons into the stadium during the proceedings.
The accused were produced before the fifth additional district munsif magistrate, Ms V. Naga Lakshmi, who sentenced them to 15 days remand. The woodcutters were later shifted back to their respective prisons to be produced back before her on the expiry of the remand period. Senior police officials of the urban police wing coordinated the movement of the prisoners as well as the security arrangements at the open court.
