Even as Telangana Government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT), on Tuesday, to probe the killing of five Muslim undertrials, Muslim organisations have decided to intensify their campaign to press the demand for an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation or a sitting High Court judge.
A day after the State Government issued a formal order of setting up a SIT headed by Inspector General of Police Sandeep Shandaliya, Muslim Joint Action Committee (MJAC), comprising several Muslim organisations, including Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, pressed ahead with its public meeting to discuss the strategy of their protest.
The protest meeting will be addressed by MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Muslim Personal law Board secretary Moulana Abdul Rahee Qureshi and representatives of various sections of Muslim community to condemn the killing of five undertrials in a police shoot out.
While the police claimed that the undertrials, including a suspected radical Viqaruddin Ahmad, were killed in an encounter when they tried to escape in route to Hyderabad on April 7, their families and Muslim community leaders have said that it was a case of cold-blooded murder and a fake encounter.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao decided to form the SIT after all round condemnation of the encounter and serious questions were raised about the circumstances in which the killings took place. A delegation of Muslim leaders had met him last week to demand a probe by the CBI or a sitting High Court judge. But ignoring the demand, he decided to go for a high-level probe by the police officials as the Government feared that enquiry by an outside agency may demoralise the force.
SIT also includes Shahnawaz Qasim, Khammam District Superintendent of Police, DSP Intelligence, Dayanand Reddy, ACP Ramanna Kumar and some other officials. The team will soon visit the scene of encounter near Aler in Nalgonda district and submit its report to the Government. However, no time frame has been fixed for the SIT to complete its investigation.
But the Government’s move has come under criticism from the Opposition. Mohammed Ali Shabbir, leader of Opposition in legislative Council, said the probe by the police is not going to serve any purpose. If a probe has to be ordered it should be either a judicial probe or the CBI, he said.