Gaddar demands judicial probe into encounter

Hyderabad, Dec 28 (UNI) Revolutionary balladeer Gaddar today met Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy at the Secretariat and submitted a memorandum demanding a judicial probe into the encounter in Visakhapatnam district in which CPI (Maoist) Central Committee Member Chandramouli and his wife Jyothakka were killed.

Talking to mediapersons later, Gaddar said he had suggested to Dr Reddy that the government should appoint a commission like the Bhargava Commission headed by a sitting judge to probe 'fake encounters'.

Dismissing the police claim that Chandramouli and Jyothakka were killed in self-defence in an encounter, Gaddar alleged that the two were arrested in Orissa on information given by Gopal, a Maoist activist, who was arrested recently in Orissa. He charged that the couple were brought to Visakhapatnam and killed in cold blood.

''Agitations and unrest all over the state are increasing.

Farmers were continuing to commit suicide and the people of the North Andhra region were holding agitations on different issues. The Telangana movement was intensifying, showing that the government was incapable of handling a crisis,'' he said.

Gaddar said the Chief Minister had told him he would ask the DGP to issue a statement on the encounter.

Meanwhile, the APCLC too condemned the encounter, terming it ''fake''.

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