Demand for judicial probe into killing of Azad,Pandey

A public meeting held on Tuesday called for a judicial inquiry into the alleged encounter killings of CPI (Maoist) spokesperson Azad and freelance journalist Hem Chandra Pandey in Andhra Pradesh’s Adilabad District on July 2.

“We strongly condemn the killing of Azad and Pandey by the Andhra Pradesh Police. While the Union government and the AP Police were quick to claim that both were killed after a four-hour long exchange of fire,the circumstantial evidence point towards an alleged fake encounter after the APSIB took the two in illegal custody on July 1 on their way to Nagpur and later assassinated them in cold blood,” said a resolution adopted at the meeting.

The press statement was released by a group called Concerned Citizens & Forum Against War On People.

The general mood of the discussions was that with Azad’s death has ended a chance for peace.

“From discussing the possibility of organising peace talks this May,we have come to calling for a judicial inquiry,” said writer-activist Arundhati Roy. Poet Varavara Rao,lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Swami Agnivesh were among the speakers,along with Abdul Rahman,chairperson of the Popular Front of India,an organisation in the news in Kerala for its alleged violent acts.