HYDERABAD, OCT 8: The Andhra Pradesh government has appointed senior IAS officer A.V.S. Reddy to head the one-man commission to investigate the gruesome killing and skinning of a one-year-old tigress at the Nehru Zoological Park on the night of October 4.Reddy, who is the Principal Secretary (Revenue), will submit his report within four days. Reddy was chosen for the probe at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, and attended by Forest Minister Ayyanna Patrudu, Director General of Police H.J. Dora, Special Secretary (Environment and Forest) K. Jaganmohan Rao and Chief Wildlife Warden T. Ramakrishna.Three days after the slaying of 13-month-old Sakhi, the investigating officials do not have any clue as to might have been responsible for the incident. Though police have interrogated several staff members, no breakthrough has been achieved, Hyderabad Police Commissioner S.R. Sukumara told The Indian Express. ``We suspect it to be the handiwork of an insider or a former employee of the zoo. But we do not have definite clues as such,'' he added.Though the case was transferred to the CID, Bahadurpura police and the officials of the Commissioner's Task Force have also launched a massive manhunt to nab the killers and a watch is being kept on the tanneries in the area.The abnormal delay on the part of the zoo officials in lodging a complaint with the police is another baffling aspect of the gruesome tale. While the incident took place in the wee hours of Friday, the police were informed about it 12 hours later. According to investigating officials, precious time was lost and this is why sniffer dogs could not provide clue. ``It certainly proved to be a handicap for us,'' said a senior police official.Those taken into custody for interrogation include zoo sergeant Lakshminarayana, animal keepers Venkat Swamy, Babulal, C.T. Satyanarayana, M. Krishna Reddy and former animal keeper Abdul, Forest Superintendent C. Jangaiah, watchman Narsingh Rao, scavenger Azad Singh and a casual worker Mujib. A rickshaw puller Mohd Salim, whose son was killed by a tiger in the zoo exactly a year ago, is also being questioned in this connection.Meanwhile, the zoo employees, who observed a one-hour token strike during the Chief Minister's visit to the zoo yesterday, demanded that the suspension of employees to be withdrawn and those taken into custody be released. Since there has been no response to their demand, the zoo staffers are planning to go on an indefinite strike from Tuesday.
