Encounter of Four Accused In 2019 Hyderabad Rape Case Was 'Concocted': Supreme Court-Appointed Panel

“Moreover, once they escaped and started running, it would be highly improbable that they would fire at the police party while running,” the inquiry commission added.

Supreme Court (File Photo: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Rejecting the claims of the Hyderabad Police, the Supreme Court-appointed inquiry commission on Friday said the encounter of the four accused in December 2019 in connection with the Disha rape and murder case was “concocted”. The apex court said the police version that the four accused snatched the pistols and ran is false, adding the accused were “deliberately fired upon to cause death” and not in self defence, Live Law reported.

“As regards the allegation that the deceased suspects fired at the police party even while running, the record shows contradictory statements by the witnesses. The most improbable part is that when Arif is alleged to have attempted to escape, the police would have been alerted and they would have ensured that the other deceased suspects do not escape,” the inquiry commission said.

“Moreover, once they escaped and started running, it would be highly improbable that they would fire at the police party while running,” the inquiry commission added.

The inquiry commission said “they would either run away or stand and fire at the police party”.

“As discussed above it is not possible for the deceased suspects to have operated the firearms. Even if they could operate the firearms, their aim would only be to escape. They would not stand and enter into an exchange of fire with the police. Therefore, it has to be held that the deceased suspects could not have fired and run away simultaneously,” the inquiry commission added.

The inquiry commission said “therefore, it cannot be believed that the deceased suspects might have died due to the indiscriminate firing from the pistols allegedly snatched by them and it has to be held that all the deceased suspects died due to the injuries caused by the bullets fired by the police party”.

“It cannot also be believed that the deceased suspects opened fire towards the police party,” the inquiry commission added.

The inquiry commission further said “in the light of the above discussion, it cannot be said that the police party fired in self-defence or in a bid to re-arrest the deceased suspects”.

“The record shows that entire version of the police party beginning from the safe house to the incident at Chatanpally is concocted. It was impossible for the deceased suspects to have snatched the weapons of the police and they could not have operated the fire arms. Therefore, the entire version is unbelievable,” the inquiry commission added.