Headlines
Family of slain undertrial from UP yet to claim body
Hyderabad, April 9
The body of one of the five
undertrials gunned down by the police in Telangana in an alleged
shootout on Monday is yet to be claimed by his family while four others
were buried here on Wednesday night amid tight security.
The body
of 33-year-old Izhar Khan, a native of Uttar Pradesh, has been
preserved at MGM Hospital in Warangal town after an autopsy on
Wednesday. His relatives are expected to arrive from Lucknow on
Thursday.
Viquar Ahmed and three others were buried in different
graveyards in parts of Hyderabad amid tight security. Mild tension
prevailed in Sultan Shahi and surrounding areas in the old city after
the burial of Viquar Ahmed, 33, due to stone pelting by some youngsters
returning from funeral. Police dispersed the mob.
Parts of the
old city had turned into a fortress with massive deployment of
policemen. Paramilitary Rapid Action Force (RAF) was also deployed to
prevent any untoward incident. A curfew-like situation was seen in some
areas as shopkeepers had downed shutters.
Syed Amjad Ali, 27,
Mohammed Zakir, 35, and Mohammed Haneef, 37, were also buried amid tight
security. Though Haneef was from Gujarat, he had married a girl from
Hyderabad.
The five, facing charges of involvement in killing of
two policemen and some other incidents, were killed near Aler in
Naglonda district when they were being brought to a court in Hyderabad
from Warangal Central Jail.
Police claimed that they tried to snatch weapons from policemen and escape.
The
families of the undertrials have termed the shootout "fake" and
"staged-managed", saying they were handcuffed and chained to the police
vehicle and would not have escaped.
"It is nothing but brutal
murders by police," said Abdul Lateef, an uncle of Haneef, who had come
from Ahmedabad. He said the cases against Haneef and others were in the
final stage.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and other Muslim
groups and human rights organizations have demanded probe by the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or by a sitting judge of the high court.
They
alleged that the police murdered the undertrials to take revenge for
the killing of four policemen by two terror operatives in Nalgonda
district last week.
The families of Viquar and other slain
undertrials claimed that they were fired on vital parts of the body from
point blank range. Autopsy report has also established that they were
fired upon from close range. They received five to eight bullets each.
Viquar
and his associates were arrested in 2010 and they were accused of
killing two policemen in Hyderabad and robberies. Police say that Viquar
had formed a fundamentalist outfit Tehreek Galba-e-Islam and had
carried out terror activities in different states.