CBI to probe encounter of Naxal leader Azad in AP

CBI to probe encounter of Naxal leader Azad in AP

The Andhra Pradesh government has assured the Supreme Court that the CBI will probe the alleged encounter of Naxal leader Azad in the state. 

It also informed the apex court that a notification will be issued with in a week in this regard.

Azad, a senior member of banned CPI(Maoist) Central Committee and Hemchandra Pandey were killed in an alleged fake encounter on the intervening night of 1^st-2^nd July 2010 in Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh.

Seeking a judicial probe into the killings, the petition alleged the post mortem reports of both the person and a fact-finding exercise carried out by rights group indicated that the encounter was not genuine. 

The Centre and the State had on 31^st March opposed in the apex court the demand for a judicial probe into the matter.

The State government had in its affidavit refuted the allegation that the police had killed them in a fake encounter and submitted that they lost their lives in an exchange of fire between them and the security forces.

The governments’ response came on apex court notice to them on 14^th January on separate petitions filed by social activist Swami Agnivesh and Pandey’s widow Babita seeking a judicial probe into the case.