The state of the 20 dead bodies and the scenes of the violence has raised serious doubts over the official version of the two encounters between Andhra Pradesh police and alleged red sanders smugglers on Tuesday morning.
Although 20 alleged smugglers from Tamil Nadu were killed in the operation, none of the armed policemen or forest officials sustained injuries.
Red Sanders Anti-Smuggling Task Force DIG Kantha Rao said that the "smugglers" attacked his team with sickles, rods and axes.
Asked if the attack could have been quelled without such massive fatalities, Rao said, "We gave them several warnings but they did not stop attacking us. There were over a hundred of them."
Asked how many of his men were grievously injured, he said, "Nobody is seriously hurt from our side. Their superior training saved their lives."
People's Union for Civil Liberties condemned the "shooting down of 20 people" in Seshachalam hill ranges in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district and demanded immediate registering of an FIR, including charges of murder, against the officials concerned.
"It's a misnomer to call this (as) an encounter, for in reality what has happened is a massacre of people alleged to have been involved in illegal felling," said PUCL National General Secretary Dr V Suresh.
Calling it a fake encounter, former Congress MP Chinta Mohan, demanded a judicial enquiry headed by a High Court judge and said, "Some of the bodies have marks on the wrists indicating that they were tied up and shot at close range. Most of the bodies have bullet wounds at the back of the neck. Either the police are Olympic level marksmen or plain murderers who shot their victims at close range."
YSR Congress MLA Bhaskar Reddy said, "Most of the bodies were found in a heap at the two sites. If there was an encounter, like the police alleged, wouldn't the men have scattered?"
Sources also said that several human rights and dalit organizations will be arriving in Chitoor to stage a protest and demand a judicial enquiry.
