Headlines
Bodies of slain men handed over to families
Hyderabad, April 8
The bodies of four of the
five undertrials gunned down by police in Telangana's Nalgonda district
were handed over to their families on Wednesday.
Police said the bodies were handed over after autopsy at the government-run MGM Hospital in Warangal town, 150 km from here.
The
bodies of Viquar Ahmed (33), Syed Amajd Ali (27) and Mohammed Zakir
(35) were given to their relatives who reached Warangal from Hyderabad.
The body of Mohammed Haneef (37), a resident of Ahmedabad, was also
claimed by his family.
The police were waiting for the relatives of Izhar Khan (33), who was from Lucknow. His body has been preserved at a hospital.
Viquar
Ahmed's father Mohammed Ahmed had initially refused to take his body
till the government ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) but later relented.
Viquar's last rites will
be performed later in the day. Police have tightened security at
Malakpet, where his house is located and surrounding areas here to
prevent any untoward incident.
A team of forensic experts
conducted autopsy in the morning. This was videographed as per the
guidelines issued by the Supreme Court for such incidents.
Though
the undertrials were killed in the limits of the Alair police station
in Nalgonda district, the bodies were brought to Warangal as they were
undertrial prisoners of Warangal Central Jail.
Viquar Ahmed alias
Viquaruddin and four others were shot dead by police, which alleged
that the accused tried to snatch weapons from policemen and flee while
they were being brought to Hyderabad from Warangal.
According to a police statement, the five undertrial prisoners were being brought in Eicher mini bus.
On
the outskirts of Tangutur village, Viquar demanded to stop the vehicle
for nature's call. He got off the bus along with the escort staff and
boarded the bus after relieving himself.
"After entering the
vehicle, he snatched the Insas weapon of the escort police constable and
opened fire. The remaining four accused also tried to snatch weapons
... shouting slogans. It is learnt the escort party fired in self
defence resulting in the death of Viquar and other four accused," said
the statement.
However, the families of the accused have termed
the encounter as "fake" and "stage-managed". They want the policemen
involved in the incident to be booked for murder.
Police say the
accused had formed a radical group called Tahreek Galba-e-Islam (TGI) to
carry out terror activities. They were involved in the killing of two
policemen in Hyderabad and one in Gujarat between 2007 and 2010.
Police
said they had taken up investigation in Tuesday's incident and ordered a
magisterial inquiry. It claimed to be following the guidelines of
National Human Rights Commission and the Supreme Court.