Nellore: Special Investigation Team probing into Seshachalam encounter has recorded the supplementary statements of three witnesses in the case at their villages in Tiruvannamalai and Dharmapuri districts in the presence of advocates of Tamil Nadu as per the directions of the AP High Court.
The TN advocates accompanying the witnesses were kept at a distance to avoid overhearing the statements as per the latest directions of the HC to question the witnesses in camera at their homes without anybody’s interference.
The team recorded the statement of one of the witnesses Balachandran in his village in Dharmapuri district and the other two, Ilangovan and Sekhar at their habitations in Tiruvannamalai district during August 13 and 14. Sources said that the members of Special Investigation Team heaved a sigh of relief following the completion of the exercise.
It may be recalled that SIT faced maximum non-cooperation from a TN-based NGO and advocates apart from the witnesses when they brought them to Tirupati to reconstruct the witness version about noticing the police detaining 20 woodcutters, who were killed in the encounter, from a bus near Puttur on April 7.
The witnesses said then that they managed to escape and retuned to their villages in Tamil Nadu. What SIT wanted to know was the route through which they came and went back and where they had lunch or breakfast etc.
According to information SIT found several gaps during physical verification of their statements carried out last month. SIT would submit the report pertaining to the statements recorded last week to the High Court on August 24 as instructed by the court.
Meanwhile sources in the task force said that kingpins of red sander smugglers formed as a network and funded the forces, which thwarted the SIT attempts to record the statements three times in the past.
They said that the network is bent upon demoralising the police and carry out their smuggling activities as usual but they can not be cowed down as they are aware of this strategy.
