Reiterating the Congress party’s demand for a CBI probe into the Alair encounter wherein five under trials were killed in police firing, Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has described the assigning of probe to Special Investigation Team (SIT) as an eye-wash.
In a media statement on Monday, Shabbir Ali reminded that on April 8th itself AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh demanded a CBI probe into the fake encounter. He said it was shocking that K Chandrashekar Rao, who claims himself to be a minority-friendly Chief Minister, maintained questionable silence on the issue for five days and announced formation of SIT to probe into the matter. “The Chief Minister is just trying to hush-up the matter by ordering a probe through the SIT. It is highly condemnable that KCR is taking light of the killing of five Muslim youth in an “encounter”, especially at a time when doubts have been raised from all quarters over the veracity of police claim,” he said.
Shabbir Ali said it was for the courts to decide whether or not the youth were involved in any offences. Neither the State Government nor the Telangana Police is authorised to kill anyone in a cold blood murder. “While the Congress party strongly condemns all kinds of terrorism, it equally opposes ‘fake encounters’ and implication of Muslim youth in false cases,” he said.
The Congress leader said KCR’s response towards Alair encounter was similar to the reaction given by Narender Modi when he was asked about Gujarat riots. While Modi rejected demands for an independent probe into 2002 Gujarat riots, KCR is opposing CBI probe into Alair encounter. Both remained adamant on their stands and did not care for the feelings of Muslim community. Asking as to why KCR was afraid of ordering a CBI probe if the encounter was not fake, he demanded that the Congress party would agree for nothing less than a CBI probe. (INN)