Mangalore :   If the police say that Yellappa of Raichur, a suspected Naxal who was killed in an encounter with ANF  in Bisile Ghats in Subrahamanya police station limits earlier this month, a fact finding committee formed by human rights organizations has claimed  that the  Yellappa was  murdered and that it was not an encounter.

The fact-finding  team was formed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Kerala unit, Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (APCLC), Centre for Protection of Civil Liberties (CPCL) in Tamil Nadu, and People’s Democratic Front (PDF) of Karnataka. The delegation of the organizations which had visited the place of the encounter has in its report stated that Yellappa was shot at close range.

The five page report said all the 14 bullets  had passed through the body of Yellappa revealing that he was shot at close range.

K. Kranti Chaitanya, one of the members of the delegation, said though the police say that there was an exchange of fire with Naxals for ten minutes, the committee during its study did not find any sign of firing and that villages living in the close range also said they  did not hear bullet sounds. The fact-finding team accused the police of not providing them a copy of the post mortem report of Yellappa. The organizations have also  demanded that the ANF combing team must be booked under Section 302 of the IPC and demanded a judicial probe into the suspected encounter. It has also demanded an end to combing operations and suspension of the ANF.