Premium

Supreme Court directs preservation of Maoist leader’s body, cites delay in son’s plea over ‘fake encounter’

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for Katta Ramchandra Reddy’s son Chandra, said he sought to conduct a post-mortem of the body, besides a CBI probe into the encounter.

A two-judge bench of the SC urged the high court to take up the petition as soon as it resumes working after Dussehra holidays (File photo).

The Supreme Court Friday ordered to preserve the body of senior Maoist commander Katta Ramchandra Reddy, who was killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh on September 22, till the state high court decides his son’s plea questioning the genuineness of the encounter.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan urged the high court to take up the petition as soon as it resumes working after Dussehra holidays. “We direct that till such time the high court decides the writ petition or passes an appropriate order, the dead body of the petitioner’s father may not be cremated/buried. Writ petition stands disposed of and we request to the high court to hear the writ petition immediately (when) it resumes after Puja vacations,” the bench said.

Reddy’s son Raja Chandra said he had moved the high court as he believed it to be a fake encounter but the court did not give him an urgent hearing in view of the impending Dussehra holidays.

Story continues below this ad

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for Chandra, said he was seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the matter. He added that the body was not cremated so far as the son sought a post-mortem.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the state of Chhattisgarh, referred to the alleged encounter and said, “Two persons were killed in this firing. One family took the body, but they (petitioner’s family) are refusing to take the body. We agreed to give it to them…”

Also Read | 2 key Maoists gunned down in Chhattisgarh were involved in 129 killings, police say

The senior law officer pointed out that Reddy “was a commander and there was a bounty by seven states totalling about Rs 2 crore on his head.”

The court clarified that “since no affidavit has been called for, the allegations levelled in the writ petition are deemed not to have been admitted by this court. All points kept open on merits.”

Story continues below this ad

Katta Ramachandra Reddy, 63, alias Raju Dada alias Gudsa Usendi alias Vijay alias Vikalp, and Kadri Satyanarayana Reddy, 67, alias Kosa, were killed in an encounter with the Narayanpur District Reserve Guard (DRG)

in Abujhmad, a Maoist stronghold for over four decades, near the hills of Farasbeda and Toymeta villages located

near the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border.

According to the police, they were central committee members of the banned CPI (Maoist) . Ramachandra Reddy was allegedly involved in the killings of 75 security personnel while Satyanarayana Reddy, was said to be involved in the killing of 48 personnel and six villagers.