Disha case: Supreme Court panel examines two Tahsildars

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court-appointed three-member inquiry commission, probing the alleged encounter killing of four suspects in the Disha rape and murder case, on Tuesday examined two of the tehsildars who had conducted the inquest.

Tehsildars of Farooq Nagar, Kondurg, Kothur, and Keshampet had conducted the inquest of the bodies of four accused.

The commission, which had already examined the tehsildar of Farooq Nagar, on Tuesday examined the tehsildars of Kondurg and Kothur. The panel asked them if they followed the set guidelines while conducting the inquest, and they explained the steps taken by them while conducting the ‘panchnama’.

The three-member panel headed by ex-SC judge V.S. Sirpurkar is scheduled to continue the hearing till September 25. It will examine Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat, who headed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the alleged encounter.

The commission on Tuesday began the fourth schedule of witness examination. It so far examined 14 witnesses in three schedules since August 21. They included Principal Secretary, Home, Ravi Gupta and the victim’s sister. The panel twice quizzed investigating officer J. Surender Reddy.

Headmasters of government schools where the victims studied were also examined by the panel. They were asked about credibility of entries in school admission records, based on which bona fide certificates were issued. Citing school records, families of the two had claimed that they were minors at the time of the alleged encounter.

The panel was set up on December 12, 2019 to inquire into the circumstances leading to the killing of four accused in the case in an alleged encounter with police on December 6, 2019.

The four accused were shot dead on at Chatanpally on National Highway-44 near Hyderabad, the same highway where the charred body of a 27-year-old Disha (as the victim is referred to by the investigators) was found.

According to police, Disha was kidnapped and sexually assaulted near the Outer Ring Road on the outskirts of Hyderabad on the night of November 27, 2019. After the sexual assault, the accused murdered her, took the body to Chatanpally, and set it afire.

The Supreme Court constituted the panel while hearing petitions raising doubts that the police killed the accused in their custody and projected it as encounter.