‘This is a cold-blooded murder… more gruesome than any case I have handled’

Dr P Chandra Sekharan, Former director, Tamil Nadu Forensic Sciences Department.

Dr P Chandra Sekharan, a former director of the Tamil Nadu Forensic Sciences Department, examined photographs and video clips taken by The Indian Express of 10 of the bodies of the 20 men killed near Tirupati on April 7, and said that the images suggested a strong likelihood of a “cold-blooded, gruesome murder”.

Excerpts from an interview:

After viewing the photographs and video clips of the bodies and the encounter site, what are your observations on the police’s “encounter” theory?

I think this is a cold-blooded, gruesome murder. There are signs of injuries, including bullet marks, on bodies that appear to have been caused after death. I have been part of investigations in many murders, including the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, and analysed digital evidence on alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. But this is more gruesome than any case I have handled in my lifetime. If police say they fired at hundreds of people, how did all victims have bullet injuries only on the upper part of their bodies? There was no blood found on the ground, other than bleeding from the bodies.

Firing at hundreds of violent people would cost not less than 500 rounds minimum or even 1,000 rounds normally. Why were there no cartridges at the spot? Were they tortured and killed elsewhere and brought to the spot? When there are 20 victims among hundreds, there would be at least 30-40 people who would survive with bullet injuries; why was not even a single injured smuggler caught alive? How did the rest manage to escape? Why were there no woodcutting tools such axes or sickles, which police said they were attacked with, at the encounter spot? Also, the photos show the bodies lying in an open area with shrubs; there are no signs of any thickly wooded forest nearby from where they would have brought the wood.

Officials involved in the “encounter” have claimed that the blackening and the blistering of bodies was due to sunburn. What is your opinion?

The photos of blackened bodies that I have analysed show they were not caused by exposure to sun. Going by the pattern of blackening and blistering on bodies, it appears this was caused by exposure to a fire, something like a camp fire. It looks like there was an attempt to burn them alive.·

You say that the pictures show torture marks, but that doesn’t fit with the police’s “self-defence” story.

They have been brutally tortured, exposed to fire, shot and killed. Among all these pictures, only one person (Palani) seems to have tried to block a blow so he suffered an injury on his right hand. Otherwise, there were no signs to prove they tried to attack or defend themselves.

Some of the bodies show injury marks caused after death. There are clear indications on the bodies showing there were attempts to check whether they were alive. Bullet entry marks on many bodies without bleeding show they were caused after death, probably to ensure they were dead.

Why are the bodies seen clad in unzipped trousers with unbuckled belts? What could be the probable reason for the innerwear being soaked in blood in one body?

At least in one body, I can confidently tell you there is a clear indication that the genitals had been cut or severely injured. That explains the profuse bleeding on the inner wear; the cloth covering the pubic region is seen heavily soaked with blood. That gives an impression that the genitals had been cut, especially in the photograph of a boy (Magendran from Tiruvannamalai). In most of the bodies in pants, I noticed they were unzipped and the belt unbuckled. This usually happens, even in police custody, during torture. I have seen this tendency in many cases where criminal minds get the urge to cut off the genitals of their victims.

If you were the officer in charge of the forensic probe in the “encounter”, what would your suggestions to the special investigation team and National Human Rights Commission be?

It would be unjust to say that it was an encounter. It appears that they have not attempted any resistance and were killed using firearms or blunt instruments.

The investigating agencies must collect all evidence. Other than evidence collected from the encounter spot, the call detail records (CDR) of all victims and officers who took part in the encounter should be verified by the SIT and NHRC. They should ascertain the locations of the victims and the officers involved. The CDR alone can be major evidence because the victims would have tried to call their kith and kin just before the encounter and those who killed them too must have communicated with their senior officials. Going by the location and call details, establishing the crime would be easier.

Source:: Indian Express