Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday declared that the Special Investigation Team, constituted by the AP government to probe into the Seshachalam killings, would carry out the probe directly under the court’s supervision.
The court directed the SIT to complete investigation within 60 days from Tuesday and submit a final report. A division bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, while dealing with petitions seeking a CBI probe into the encounter by the Special Task Force in which 20 woodcutters from Tamil Nadu were killed on April 7, ruled that the SIT should not consult any secretary or official of the government without the court’s permission.
After perusing the case dairy submitted by the government with regard to the investigation, the bench noticed that before issuing the FIR, the investigation officer had obtained the opinion of the public prosecutor.
The bench stated that as per the provisions of the CrPC, once information is received about a cognisable offence, the station house officer concerned has to register the case and proceed with investigation and obtaining the PP’s opinion at that stage was not called for.
