Cauvery Basin2

Tamil Research Institution (TRI)
1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
From the 7 th April, the media started to carry reports that 20 men from Tamil Nadu had been
killed earlier that day in an encounter in the Seshachalam forest in Andhra Pradesh, where,
according to the State police, they were cutting down red sander trees and had attacked
policemen and foresters of the anti-smuggling task force. The following statement attributed
to Dr. M. Kantha Rao, DIG of the AP Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling STF carried in the
newspapers, set out what had happened:
“As soon as they saw police, at least 150 to 200 labourers, hired by the
smugglers, rained stones, shot arrows and threw sticks and iron rods. They hid
behind boulders and attacked. At least eight forest officers were injured and the
task force opened fire in self-defense. At least 20 were killed. They are hired
daily wagers from Tamil Nadu. We believe they had been camping here since
Monday evening. The exchange started at 5 am and continued for about an
hour.”
A team of human rights activists from People’s Watch (comprising of Ms. Palaniammal, Adv,
Aseervatham and Mr. Senthil Raja accompanied by members of the Citizens for Human
Rights Movement (CHRM) from Vellore, Thiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri and Namakkal
Districts) immediately set out on 7 th April itself, to conduct a preliminary fact finding into the
incident. The Governments and concerned officials of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were
duly intimated about the same. The copy of the intimation sent is Annexure 1. During the
fact finding mission, the People’s Watch team visited the scene of the alleged encounter, the
concerned police stations, hospitals and post-mortem centres as well as the villages that the
deceased victims belonged to and met with the family members of the victims. The findings
of the fact finding team completely challenges the State’s claim of the alleged cutting down
of red sanders tree and attack on policemen and foresters of the anti-smuggling task force.
(Details of the same are mentioned in the report – Annexure 2).
Many facts that have since emerged, seriously contest the ‘encounter’ version of the AP
police – only 9 members of the STF had sustained any serious injury; bullet marks have
been found on the neck and upper part of the torso of the deceased; bullet marks are
indicative of the deceased having been shot from close range; many of the bodies bear
marks on the limbs which indicate the victims limbs were tied with ropes; the red sanders
logs found at the site of the offence already bear the government stamp and number in white
colour as in done in the case of logs only after being seized and stored in the godowns
belonging to the Forest Department. Several media reports, photographs, other fact finding
missions and opinions of the forensic experts (Annexure 3 – Video transcription of Senior
Retired Forensic Scientist – Dr. Chandrashekharan) have also raised serious questions
challenging the genuineness of the ‘encounter’. Further, the police version that the deceased
were armed with stones, sickles and axes, reinforces that the police firing did not respect the
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