New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Friday, directed the Chhattisgarh Police to preserve the body of top Maoist commander Katha Ramchandra Reddy, who was killed in an encounter with security forces in the Narayanpur district of the state.
The Court ordered this while hearing a petition, alleging that Reddy was killed in a fake encounter. Katha Ramchandra Reddy and Kadari Satyanarayana Reddy were killed in the encounter on September 22.
The bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice A G Masih said the body shall not be buried or cremated till the plea alleging fake encounter and torture is decided by the Chhattisgarh High Court.
“Till such time the high court decides the petition, the body shall not be cremated/buried,” the bench directed as it requested the High Court to take up the plea upon reopening after Durga Puja vacation. The bench said it is leaving all contentions open and is not expressing any opinion on merit.
The petitioner in this case is Reddy’s son Raja Chandra, who has been a researcher at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad. He was represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who submitted that the Maoist commander was tortured and killed in a fake encounter and the police are trying to dispose of the body.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Chhattisgarh Police, said that two persons were killed in an encounter and the father of the petitioner carried a bounty of Rs 7 crore across seven states.
He informed the bench that the body of one of the dead Maoists had been handed over to his family and cremated while Reddy’s body was in hospital. Mehta also said that the postmortem was conducted under video recording and no malafide can be attributed to the police.
The bench noted that prayers in the petition include investigation of alleged fake encounter, by an independent agency, preferably the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), not comprising officers from Chhattisgarh and a fresh postmortem.
It also noted that the petitioner had approached the High Court but the matter could not be listed urgently as the Court was to go on a break and hence the matter was moved before the Supreme Court.
