Supreme Court grants 6-month extension to Sirpurkar panel to complete probe into 2019 Hyderabad fake encounter

The Supreme Court on Friday granted six more months to the judicial panel led by Justice (retired) V.S. Sirpurkar for investigation of the alleged fake encounter of the four men accused of raping and murdering a 26-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad.

The bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian heard the petition seeking an independent investigation into the alleged fake encounter in November 2019.

Earlier, the court had granted six months more time to the panel headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Sirpurkar-led committee to complete the probe.

An application was made by the committee seeking more time to complete the investigation which got delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic. The bench had earlier asked the committee to complete the investigation by September 3, 2020.

On December 12, the bench headed by Chief Justice Bobde had set up the panel on a petition filed by two advocates, G.S. Mani and Pradeep Kumar Yadav, to investigate the case.

The application stated, “Even though the work of the commission is continuing, the same could not be completed because of the prevailing pandemic situation…Therefore, the inquiry commission is constrained to apply for an extension of time of six months from the date the commission is able to function with physical hearings, spot inspections etc.”

The panel, further highlighting the present situation leading to the delay in investigation, had submitted: “The Government of India has extended the lockdown from time to time, severely affecting the inter-state movement. Though the lockdown restrictions have been relaxed now, the situation in Hyderabad has further deteriorated. Several persons working in the premises allocated to the commission were found to be Covid positive. There are no other premises available for the commission to hold hearings. Travel between states is still not feasible because of the increasing rates of infection.”

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