Who does the Telangana government want us to believe? Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar or Telangana’s Cinematography and Animal Husbandry minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav.

Sajjanar said his men fired in self-defence at the four accused because they had attacked the 10-member police party with stones and also snatched two pistols. In the encounter, while two policemen suffered minor injuries, all four rape and murder accused were shot dead on an open field. The incident took place around 5:45 am on Friday morning when it is still fairly dark and a bit foggy in the month of December. 

Srinivas Yadav sees in the encounter a chilling message. He told a local Telugu channel, “This is a lesson that if your conduct is wrong, there won’t be court, jail and getting out of prison just because the case drags on. Nothing like that any more. Through this encounter, the message is that if you do any wrong and something so cruel, at the end, there will be an encounter. That is the very strong message. This is ideal for the country. We are a model state not just for our schemes but also for our law and order. So do not try to criticise the chief minister again and again, trying to be clever, exploiting the situation. There will be a lot behind the CM’s silence.”

Contrary to Sajjanar’s version, the minister’s statement suggests that the encounter was staged with the specific aim of eliminating the four accused. In fact, by referring to “a lot behind CM’s silence”, Yadav insinuates that the encounter had K Chandrasekhar Rao’s political approval. Coming from a senior cabinet minister who represents an assembly constituency in Hyderabad, this cannot be ignored. 

The TRS needs to clarify whether Yadav or Sajjanar is putting out the government’s official version. 

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team has arrived in Telangana and conducted its investigation at the encounter site and also visited the hospital where the four bodies have been preserved.