Telangana High Court on Friday ordered a judicial inquiry into the death of Palakonda Raju, suspect in the rape and murder of a minor in Saidabad of Hyderabad, who was found dead on a railway track in Station Ghanpur of Warangal district.
The Third Metropolitan Magistrate of Warangal would conduct the inquiry and present report to Registrar, Judicial of the High Court, within four weeks. A bench of Acting Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice T. Amarnath Goud passed these orders, after hearing a PIL petition moved in the form of lunch motion.
The plea was filed by Civil Liberties Committee-Telangana State president Gaddam Laxman. A retired university professor, the petitioner sought a judicial inquiry into Raju’s death, describing it as a ‘meticulously planned and calculated murder by the police’. Hearing the plea after lunch break, the bench issued notices to Principal Home Secretary, DGP, Hyderabad Police Commisisoner, Warangal police and Government Railway Police of Secunderabad.
Police personnel, family members of Raju or any other person having any material connected to the matter can appear before the magistrate with four weeks. The magistrate would furnish the report in a sealed cover to the HC.
Advocate General B.S. Prasad informed the bench that police had recorded statements of seven ‘eye-witnesses’ with regard to Raju’s death.
A copy of the post-mortem examination of Raju’s body would be handed over to the magistrate conducting the inquiry. The report copy would be in the form of a pen-drive or a compact disc by 8 p.m. on Friday, he told the bench.
The autopsy report should be handed over to Registrar General of the HC at the earliest, the bench said. The petitioner said he believed that police had taken Raju into custody within hours of sexually assaulting and murdering the six-year-old girl in Singareny Colony of Saidabad on September 9.
Even Minister for Information Technology K.T. Rama Rao tweeted that the accused was arrested though he eventually withdrew it claiming it was an instance of misinformation, the petitioner said.
He stated that the police version was far from true.
“This court does not wish to express any opinion on the contentions of either of the parties and feels it appropriate to direct for an inquiry by the judicial magistrate”, the bench said.
