Telangana govt to form SIT to probe killing of 5 undertrials

Hyderabad : Telangana Government has decided to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the April 7 encounter near Alair of Nalgonda district of the state, in which five undertrials were shot dead.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to order a full inquiry and has instructed Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma to issue orders tomorrow to appoint Special Investigating Team (SIT), an official release said today.

The Chief Minister has taken the decision keeping in view the doubts expressed by certain organisations and some individuals on the encounter, it added.

Five undertrials - Viquar, Syed Amjad Ali, Mohammed Zakir, residents of Hyderabad, Mohammed Haneef alias Dr Haneef, native of Ahmedabad, and Izhar Khan, native of Uttar Pradesh -



were shot dead by police on April 7 when they allegedly tried to escape from a police van near Tangutur under Alair Police Station limits in Nalgonda district, while being taken to a court in Hyderabad.

According to police, Viquar Ahmed asked to stop the van to attend nature's call. After returning to the van, he snatched the Insas rifle of one of the police constables and opened fire. The other four also tried to snatch weapons of accompanying policemen, and were killed when the police fired in self defence.

The five had formed a radical terrorist organisation called Tahreek Galba-e-Islam (TGI). Police had earlier said that they were involved in four incidents of firing on police (killing three cops and injuring four others) in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.