Cauvery Basin2

Tamil Research Institution (TRI)
and that there were people in power behind it and that the innocent Tamils had been killed
as part of a big political agenda.
Following this the Team spoke to the Indian Express Reporter, the Sun News Reporter Mr.
Rama Selvaraj and the Reporter of Eenadu. All of them said that what had happened was
not an encounter but planned murders. The Team also approached a few police officers who
were standing there on guard to collect information but they did not respond.
People belonging to various organizations from Tamil Nadu stood before the barricades
erected by the Police without holding any banners of their organizations’ names and were
raising slogans condemning the police. Likewise people of organizations from Andhra too
were protesting in small groups. Our fact finding team, which had embarked on the mission
after confirming to an extent through various sources that 20 persons belonging to Tamil
Nadu had been killed by the police, decided to raise slogans condemning the incident.
Following that the team reported all that it had heard and seen about the incident to the
Executive Director of People’s Watch. On his advice, all 6 persons in the team raised
slogans demanding that the National Human Rights Commission should intervene in the
case of the fake encounter that happened in Tirupati and that compensation should be
provided for the family of the deceased. Many organizations that had come from Andhra
Pradesh also joined with us and raised slogans. The team registered its protest in a
democratic manner for about half an hour. Our slogan-raising was telecast nation-wide by all
television channels. Because of this the family members of the deceased placed trust in us
and approached us with ease to speak about the incident. This is how the opportunity of
identifying the real witnesses and presenting them before the National Human Rights
Commission arose.
Then after lunch the team decided to go to the place where the encounter purportedly took
place (situated at a distance of 14 kms from the RUIA Hospital) in the Sheshachalam forest
region in the Srivarimettu area in Chandragiri Police limits in a four-wheeler vehicle. So we
enquired at the Auto Rickshaw stand in front of the RUIA Hospital about getting a vehicle to
go to the forest region. An Auto Rickshaw driver whose name is not known gave the cell
number 09949929296 and asked us to contact that number. When we called that number
the person who responded said that his name was Surya and that he had a ‘Bolero’ car and
assured us that he would take us to Srivari forests. On that basis all 6 of us in the team set
out at about 1.30 p.m.
Since the mud path that runs opposite to the Hanuman Temple situated on the Srivarimettu
road, which is the path by which pilgrims walk to Tirupati Hills, is a rugged one, the vehicle in
which we went broke down. Therefore we had to get down and walk to the spot. We walked
on the road for about 45 minutes and then turned to a narrow path on the right and reached
the place of incident after walking about 15 minutes on that path. Two Telugu Reporters
(names not known) were at the place where the encounter allegedly took place before us
www.tamilri.com
44