Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday ordered an independent inquiry by the Crime Branch into the encounter killings of Ma-oists Manivasakam and Kannan Karthik at Man-jakkandy, Attappady, in Palakkad district.
A single bench of the court also ordered to seize the guns used by the police to shoot Maoists and subject them to forensic and ballistic tests and submit a report to the Palakkad sessions court.
The court asked the Crime Branch to investigate whether there was any wrongdoing by the police and what was the reason for the deaths of the Maoists. This should be done whatever be the charges registered by Agali police following the encounters on October 28 and 29.
The court was considering a petition filed by Tamil Nadu natives Murugesan and Lakshmi demanding to deploy a special team to investigate the killings of the two in the encounter with the Thunderbolt commandos. The court did not accept their demand to conduct a probe by a special team.
It also ordered to get the fingerprints of the two and report the same to the Palakkad court. If the petitioners are not happy with the investigation, they can approach the Palakkad court, it said.
The single bench also allowed the funeral of Manivasakam and Kannan Karthik saying that since the post-mortem report clearly indicated the bruises on the bodies, there was no need to keep them further. The court had earlier stayed the funeral on a petition filed by Murugesan and Lakshmi. It said that the authorities can proceed with the funeral as per the law.
