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Hyderabad, Oct 31 (IANS) Raising suspicion over the alleged encounter death of Sheikh Riaz and the murder of a police constable in Telangana’s Nizamabad city, an independent fact-finding committee has sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The fact-finding committee said only a CBI investigation can reveal the truth behind the murder of 24-year-old Riyaz, the murder of constable Pramod Kumar, the role of Asif and his associates, the extortion racket allegedly involving policemen and the fake currency nexus.
The fact-finding committee also revealed ‘horrible sexual assault on Riyaz’s elderly mother, his wife and his two minor children’.
The panel comprising social rights and civil rights activists Khaleda Parveen, Sarah Mathews, Majid Shuttari, advocate Sameer Ali, Mohammed Abdul Taj and Sheikh Sikandar made its report public at a press conference here on Friday.
Riyaz (24) was killed in an alleged encounter by police on October 20 at the Nizamabad government hospital, where he was undergoing treatment. The police claimed that he tried to snatch a weapon from a policeman and died when the policeman opened fire to stop him.
According to the police, Riyaz, a ‘habitual criminal’, was stabbed to death while accompanying Pramod on a motorcycle after his arrest in a vehicle theft case on October 17. Pramod’s nephew was also sitting on the same motorcycle.
The police also claimed that a civilian named Asif helped the police in nabbing Riyaz, who was allegedly absconding after the murder of the constable.
The panel alleged in its report that there were ‘gross violations of fundamental human rights, a gross erosion of the rule of law and a complex cover-up.’
“These include custodial killings, sexual assault of vulnerable women and children, police extortion schemes and a fake police encounter designed to conceal a corrupt nexus between the police, a counterfeit currency gang and finance companies operating in Nizamabad,” the report said.
“The official police narrative deliberately portrays the deceased Riaz as an “arch villain”, while completely omitting any mention of his legitimate profession as a recovery agent for finance companies. The purpose of suppressing key facts is to discredit him to justify the actions taken against him and his family, while protecting the real culprits,” the panel said.
According to the fact-finding committee, witnesses who saw Constable Pramod’s body being thrown on the road, as well as those who knew about the negotiations between the police and Riyaz over the bribe amount, are refusing to come forward and testify due to deep fear of police retaliation.
The panel found that Riaz found Rs 3 lakh in cash in a scooter that he had seized as part of his recovery operation, but it turned out to be counterfeit currency. He converted the fake currency into real currency and bought a new scooter.
The panel also found that the real owner of the scooter seized by Riaz with fake notes worth Rs 3 lakh belonged to Asif, whom the police later tried to portray as a hero.
Since Asif was pressurizing Riyaz to repay the money, Riyaz contacted constable Pramod Kumar. According to reports, the constable took Riyaz to his superiors, who allegedly demanded a bribe.
Quoting local people, the fact finding committee said that Riyaz and Pramod had met at a secret place to discuss the bribe amount. Asif and his unknown associates tried to kill him to eliminate the threat posed by Riyaz, but he managed to escape, while Pramod was either killed accidentally or deliberately to silence him as a witness to the racket. The killers threw Pramod’s body on Vinayak Nagar Road.
The panel suspected that Riyaz died due to torture during police custody, but the police fabricated the story that he was killed as he tried to escape by snatching a weapon from a policeman. It was said that Asif was made a hero to hide the nexus.
The Telangana State Human Rights Commission has already taken suo motu cognizance of Sheikh Riaz’s encounter and directed the Director General of Police to submit a detailed report.
Later, Riyaz’s mother, wife and minor children appeared before the commission and lodged a written complaint stating that they were being prevented from entering their house and third-degree methods were being used by the police.
The family also alleged that slain constable Pramod Kumar had demanded Rs 3 lakh from Riyaz, of which Rs 30,000 had already been paid, and that fraudulent monetary transactions had taken place between them. The Commission directed the police not to take any forceful action.
–IANS
MS/UK